Dragon's Chick
by The Poarter
Summary: Some people duel to forget about life. Some people do it for fun. It used to be both for Jaden and yet here he is dueling for the chance to get into Duel Academy. Is it worth it? Perhaps it is. He made his choice. Now it's time to live with it. Two things are for certain though; time does not heal all wounds and you can not hide from you past forever.
1. Duel 1

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 1**

XXX

"I'm never going to beat you father am I?" questioned Jaden as he looked at the older man. Though it seemed strange to consider the man his father, seeing as he hadn't seem to age a day since eighteen.

"Don't worry about it too much. I got somewhat lucky in drawing the right cards. It's how I finished you off in one turn," smirked the man.

Jaden just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "That might be true. But I was hoping to beat you just once."

"And you might one day. Like I promised I did not hold back," chuckled Jaden's father, "That does not mean that you haven't earned that card. It just means you have a much longer distance before you surpass."

"But will I ever?" bowed out Jaden.

"One day my son. One day. Remember though. Don't try to become my equal. Surpass me and show the world that you are more than my shadow."

XXX

Truthfully Jaden wasn't a very impatient person most of the time. However the situation in front of him made him want to sigh. He could had dealt with the fact that he was going to ra yellow instead of obelisk blue. That was life sometimes.

Just because it was so he starter deck didn't mean that it was a certain possibility. It would not have mattered if he was one of the last person in line for his duelling exam. That happened as well.

That was the problem at the moment. The issue now was that he was literally he last person. The even more glaring issue was the fact that he had been one of the first people to finish the written exam. So combined with his early finish and he late test and Jaden had more than five hours to spend doing nothing.

Of course he had spent some of the time talking to his mom. Since that was almost always busy, it was Jaden's mother who most of his parental interaction occurred with the most. The same issue arose with his siblings.

This was compounded with the problem that Jaden wasn't allowed to actually leave the building until the final duel had ceased.

Apparently the proctors were concerned about cheating. That was true to a certain extent. Students had to register on an independent data base for the type of cards they were using going to use during their duel. To be fair the whole process took less than five minutes to do but that didn't make it any nicer.

Not that it mattered. He had already witnessed several students using extremely rare cards and whole it wasn't illegal there was a reason why only professional duellists could afford such cards. But lien Jaden thought it didn't matter in the end.

XXX

Crowler was not having a good day. The testing grounds were always under immense pressure at this time of the year. The duelling contractors had to go through a very selective review board and training method. Then there was seating arrangements to consider for parents who wanted to see their children duel. He could literally see Serenity Kaiba from here because her husband had asked for such a placement.

Then there was grading to consider for every single duellist, dorm arrangements and actually making sure that the welcoming dinner was properly set out. Class timetables, equipment for students and etc. the list could literally go on.

In many cases it did. Which was why Crowler was in such a bad mood when he was called to the arena. The academy was paying good money for the extra duelling contractors and the fact that they had to call the head of the department up for assistance today was going on their report.

Crowler groaned. At least he could take relish in the fact that this was going to be the last test taken today. It had been a long day and he didn't want to stand on his feet for a minute more than he already had.

Which was why he was using his own personal deck today. Get this over with already.

XXX

Jaden found himself frozen in shock from the person in front of him; Professor Crowler. Was this another set of tests or a pop quiz idea of a joke?

"Good evening," greeted Crowler as he activated his duel disk.

"Hello Dr. Crowler," returned Jaden, "Are you here because my test scores were that impressive?"

Crowler just snorted, "Don't embarrass yourself with that attitude child. Let's see how much of your knowledge is book work and how much is practical."

Crowler was surprised that a random student had been able to recognize him so easily.

 _Then again I am the head of the Obelisk dorm. Every potential students wants to get into my good graces. It's only fair that they know who I am._

 _Although there is something ... off about this boy._

Jaden grinned at the reply. He had a feeling that this was going to be fun.

"Let's duel!" They both shouted.

XXX

The screen above them flashed between the words protractor and student repeating until it final settled on protractor.

Crowler nodded at the screen, "I go first."

Jaden looked at his hand. What did he have and what could he use to win this?

 _Okay let me look through everything in my hand and register it properly; I have Giant Red Seasnake, Interplanetary Invader A, Luster Dragon, Pot of Greed, and Frost and flame dragon. Nice_

Crowler grunted at the student in front of him, "I play my Ancient Gear Wyvern in attack mode."

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Wyvern**

 **Level: 4**

 **Attack: 1700**

 **Defense: 1200**

 **Type: Machine/ Effect**

 **If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Ancient Gear" card from your Deck to your hand, except "Ancient Gear Wyvern", also you cannot Set cards for the rest of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Ancient Gear Wyvern" once per turn. If this card attacks, monsters in your opponent's possession cannot activate their effects until the end of the Damage Step.**

"Furthermore I then use Ancient Gear Reborn and Ancient Gear Wyvern's special ability to bring forth one ancient gear monster from my deck to my hand. I now shuffle."

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Reborn**

 **Type: Trap Card**

 **You can only control 1 "Ancient Gear Reborn". Once per turn, if you control no monsters: You can target 1 "Ancient Gear" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it, and if you do, it gains 200 ATK.**

Then he drew a spell card, "Finally I equip Ancient Gear Fist to Ancient Gear Wyvern. It's now your turn."

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Fist**

 **Type: Spell Card**

 **Equip only to an "Ancient Gear" monster. At the end of the Damage Step, if the equipped monster battled a monster and is still on the field: Destroy the monster it battled.**

XXX

On the stands the appearance of the ancient gear soldiers drew gasps from several students.

"The kid is going to lose the match," stated Zane as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Don't be like that," retorted Alexis, "Although I will admit the examinee is about to have a really tough time."

Zane just shook his head, "Crowler is using his own personal deck. That alone makes it nearly impossible for half the students in the academy to beat him. Once he activates his Ancient Gear Golem though then it's over."

XXX

 _So that's how Crowler wants to play right? Well I can play just as well._

Jaden drew out a single card looked at it then nodded," I play Spiral Serpent in Attack mode! Then I play Pot of Greed! Do you want to know what it does?"

"Of course I know what it does," remarked Crowler, "I'm not an idiot."

Jaden laughed, "Yes. It lets me draw two cards."

 **Card Codex: Pot of Greed**

 **Type: Spell Card**

 **Draw 2 cards.**

Jaden sees the cards he drew. They were different Dimension Dragon and Hyozanryu. Nice but it demonstrated his weaknesses. While his cards were generally powerfully the fact remained that Jaden knew his deck was oversaturated with too many powerful monster cards. Yet he couldn't think of any other way to eliminate the dilemma for the past week without crippling his deck.

Especially after what happened in the warehouse.

Jaden then ordered, "Now I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode. Now attack Ancient Gear Wyvern Luster Dragon!"

 **Card Codex: Luster Dragon**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: Dragon**

 **Attack: 1900**

 **Defense: 1600**

 _ **A very beautiful dragon covered with sapphire. It does not like fights, but has incredibly high attack power.**_

Crowler's Life points - 4000 - 3800

Crowler frowned at bit at the situation.

XXX

"Well this is going to be interesting," commented another boy up on the stage to another one.

Chazz just bit back, "You idiots. Don't think for a moment that he'll win this match just because Crowler's life points' have dropped a bit."

Raizou explained, "No what I meant was that the kid's card wasn't destroyed in battle. Then again I guess Ancient Gear Fist only works when it's your card that's doing the fighting."

Taiyou chimed in, "Pretty worthless card then. I mean I can just use a normal monster to do the same thing and save myself some lifepoints."

XXX

Crowler admitted to Jaden, "I see you have some skill. Then put down two cards; one in defense mode. Then I play Ancient Gear Reborn to special summon one monster from my graveyard should I desire."

A single card lay face down on Crowler's side of the field. Jaden knew that it would have to be a strong defense monster but if he wanted to beat Crowler now he'd have to go through it.

Jaden pulsed, "I summon Giant Red Seasnake in attack mode."

 **Card Codex: Giant Red Seasnake**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: Aqua**

 **Attack: 1800**

 **Defense: 800**

 _ **A sea-dwelling snake that attacks passing enemies with its sharp teeth.**_

"Now Luster Dragon attack that face down card!"

Crowler smirked, "You should have done your homework boy. The card I draw is Ancient Gear Box!"

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Box**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: Machine/Effect**

 **Attack: 500**

 **Defense: 2000**

 **If this card is added from the Deck or Graveyard to your hand, except by drawing it: You can add 1 EARTH Machine-Type monster with 500 ATK and/or DEF from your Deck to your hand, except "Ancient Gear Box". You can only use this effect of "Ancient Gear Box" once per turn.**

"That's bad," scrowled Jaden.

XXX

"The examinee can say it many times," commented Bastion from the stands hearing Jaden's words over the loudspeaker, "Ancient Gear Box had a massive amount of defence points and to summon a monster to beat that would mean paying one of his as a tribute."

"That's part of the game though," noted Syrus.

"That's true but if Crowler is using the cards he is then tributing would be a bad idea," reminded Bastion glaring at the protractor. This duel wasn't turnout out well. Especially if Crowler managed to get another Gear Box onto the field.

XXX

Jaden life points 4000 - 3900

Jaden sighed at the loss of lifepoints, "I end my turn"

 _Dam. There's quite a few ways around this but I'm not getting into Obelisk Blue now._

Crowler cackled as he drew his card," I use Ancient Gear drill which allows me to select one spell card from my deck and set it onto the field. I then discard one card from my hand. In this case it's Ancient Gear Beast."

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Drill**

 **Type: Spell Card**

 **If you control an "Ancient Gear" monster: Discard 1 card; Set 1 Spell Card directly from your Deck. This turn, that Spell Card cannot be activated.**

The mechanical attack dog card was slipped into Crowler's graveyard.

XXX

Alexis moaned in exasperation at Crowler's move, "He just threw away a chance to win this duel. Isn't that right Kyrie?"

Kyrie took on much of her mother Mai's looks, wavy golden blonde hair, violet eyes and a body that made it very easy for her to seduce boys, and in some cases girls. But now she was glaring down at the stadium as the duel turned ... weird.

"I don't like how this duel is going but you are right," acknowledged Kyrie Wheeler, "Crowler just threw away his one chance to win this. Even if Ancient Gear Beast can't be tribute summoned it is still a useful card."

XXX

Back at the stadium Crowler was taking his time, building up the anticipation and waiting for this finale.

Then as a final taunt, "Now I play Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode!"

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Knight**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: Machine/ Gemini/ Effect**

 **Attack: 1800**

 **Defense: 500**

 **This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is a Normal Monster on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it become an Effect Monster with this effect.  
● If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step.**

The knight's attack points were impressive for a normal summoned monster. But Jaden had something more up his sleeve. That is if his Luster Dragon wasn't already stronger than that thing.

Jaden drew his card and smiled at it; Armored Dragon. Just what he needed.

Jaden called out as he brought it forth, "I play Armored Dragon onto the field in attack mode. Now attack Ancient Gear Knight Luster Dragon!"

 **Card Codex: Armored Dragon**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: Dragon**

 **Attack: 1900**

 **Defense: 1400**

 **A dragon that has once said to be a mounted knight. Few wish to cross it.**

The destruction of Ancient Gear Knight brought Crowler's life points down further causing the man to grimace.

Crowler's life points: 3800 - 3700

Crowler just scrowled and drew one card. Apparently it was very good. because he actually grinned. Flipping it around to Jaden so that he could see Crowler shouted.

"I play Ancient Gear Explosive and sacrifice one monster from my hand. In this case I choose Ancient Gear Box!"

 **Card Codex: Ancient Gear Explosive**

 **Type: Spell**

 **Target 1 "Ancient Gear" monster you control; destroy it, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half its original ATK.**

Jaden growled at the card effect. Knowing what was about to come didn't exactly make it any easier.

Jaden's Life points: 3900 - 3650

Crowler added, "Then I play Limiter Removal."

 **Card Codex: Limiter Removal**

 **Type: Spell**

 **Double the ATK of all Machine-Type monsters you currently control, until the end of this turn. During the End Phase of this turn, destroy those monsters.**

"That doesn't change anything though. I then use my Ancient Gear Reborn and use it to play Ancient Gear Knight in attack mode."

Ancient Gear Knight Attack Points: 1800 - 3600

Moving his hand in a sharp manner Crowler signalled the card to attack Jaden's Spiral Serpent.

"Attack!"

Jaden's Life points: 3650 - 1850

Jaden drew one card. This was turning into an attrition fight. Although he knew there wasn't that many problems when it came to this match so far, if he didn't end it this turn ... His eyes widened a bit again at the card he drew. Graceful charity. Exactly what he needed to end this.

 **Card Codex: Graceful Charity**

 **Type: Spell**

 **Draw 3 cards, then discard 2 cards.**

XXX

"Still think Crowler's going easier on him Alexis?" questioned Zane as he looked at the kid's rapidly diminish life points.

"No," shrugged Alexis, "But if Crowler doesn't play something good soon this kid's going to embarrass him in front of the entire academy."

Zane nodded at the statement, "I agree that was a stupid move on Crowler's part. I only use Limiter Removal when there is more than two monsters on my side of the field unless I'm really desperate."

XXX

Jaden roared, "I play Graceful charity which allows me to draw three cards from my deck but give up two immediately after."

Then Jaden drew the three cards; Card Crush Virus, Monster Reborn and Mirror Force. Just what he need.

With those card in his hand he discarded Interplanetary Invader A and Frost and Flame Dragon showing those cards to Crowler.

"Then I use to summon High Tide Gyojin."

 **Card Codex:** **High Tide Gyojin**

 **Level: 4**

 **Type: 4**

 **Attack: 1650**

 **Defense: 1300**

 _ **A very agile half-fish warrior known for its relentless attacks.**_

"I then activate Monster Reborn which lets be bring back one monster from the graveyard."

 **Card Codex: Monster Reborn**

 **Type: Spell**

 **Target 1 monster in either player's Graveyard; Special Summon it.**

"Come back out Giant Red Seasnake."

The coiled serpent hissed in glee at its return.

Crowler's life points dropped once again.

Crowler: 3700 - 3600

The half-fish warrior croaked in glee as if knowing what was about to come.

"Then I use Luster dragon, Giant Red Seasnake and High Tide Gyojin to attack Professor Crowler," finished Jaden.

The trio of monsters growled with glee as they attacked Crowler who could only sweat at their actions.

Crowler's Life points: 3600 - 0

"Winner of the match - Student" the announcement, well announced.

XXX

Back on the stands Chazz was watching everyone leave carefully, keeping an eye on potential challengers and in generally taking a note of important incidents. As the future king of games this was completely necessary.

Chazz grunted, "So this Ra Reject has some talent after all. What do you think Zane?"

Zane who had just been walking by with Alexis and Kyrie turned to Chazz, " I will say he's better than most of the evidence in the first year already. And perhaps better then you Chazz."

Chazz just smirked at the taunt, "We will see about that Zane. We will see about that. But let's just say that if Crowler had been able to summon his Ancient Gear Golem this match would have been finished "

Zane just chucked, "True. Very true. Come on we have be there on time."

Alexis nodded just before turning to her friend, "So do you think we will be roommates Kyrie?"

"I hope so," sparkle Kyrie Wheeler as she looked down onto Jaden below. The former exam student was tellingly walking back to the entrance in a relaxing and confident manner. The duel had been more than it had initially seemed at first glance for him.

"I have a feeling that thinks going to be a very interesting year."


	2. Duel 2

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 2**

A man was being dragged through several corridors with two guards. Each held onto one of his elbows making it difficult if not impossible for him to fight back.

Finally after a few agonizing minutes the two guards laid him onto a chair before tying him up.

"Shock him awake," ordered the room's other occupant. This one was more slender and shorter than the two guards which had dragged Titan from his cell but only fool thought he wasn't dangerous.

His aura and body picture spoke volumes; uncaring, simmering and bloodthirsty. Titan screamed as the electricity bolted through his body.

That was to say if no one noticed the dark stains of blood and ash on his clothes.

"So you are the wannabe shadow duellist?" Mocked the man as he slowly walked toward Titan's still form. He raised his hand causing the voltage to crank up immensely.

"I will not have you make a mockery of my powers you two bit magician," growled the shadowed man.

Then at his hand command the electric torture stopped.

"But I can see a use for your body if not your mind" conceded the man.

Then he brought out a shiny indigo coloured bug. It's legs tingled and moved rapidly trying to grab the man's hand and dig itself into his flesh. However the hands owner masterfully lowered the parasite to the face of his captive.

The parasite hissed and creaked in glee as if anticipating what was about to come. It's nimble, twisted legs twitched frantically.

Cries of pain filled the room as the creature bit its way through Titans nose with only the darkness offering sympathy.

XXX

The Boeing 747-400 had been flying for over an hour now and Jaden's was starting to get bored. Why couldn't they have taken a ferry instead? Granted the view probably would not later be as magnificent but even a train ride would have been much better.

Jaden knew a train line was in the making and was going to be finished for another six months but it still meant that the flight was something he would have to accept. The ferry was also no longer a service because of what happened two years ago. It was why they couldn't have nice things.

Okay now I sound like a spoiled brat. Keep it down Jaden.

So for now Jaden was stuck like this. While the flight was somewhat comfortable Jaden had noticed that the school had not taken the liberty of putting the students into their proper dorms. It was probably something that would be done once they reached the island. This was much more apparent when he looked to the two people who were seated to his right.

Both were wearing normal clothes. The girl was playing on her phone a bit while the boy was taking a nap. Thankfully none of them had bothered to pay any attention to him, lost in their own little worlds for the moment.

The people on the back however were making quite a bit of noise though much to Jaden's irritation. Some guy was arguing with his girlfriend over the phone while two girls right behind him were talking about what kind of cards they had in their decks and why started playing duel monsters.

Quite loudly indeed.

So altogether while it wasn't the situation he could have preferred Jaden was slightly content.. At least they got rid of the helicopters last year. Students crammed like sardines had caused quite a lot of complaints, especially among the richer ones who couldn't take the crowded conditions.

"Attention duellists if you look to the right you will now be seeing what will soon be your home for the next few years!" announced the pilot over the loudspeaker.

Then again seeing the academy itself did make it seem like a better deal.

Glass plates which made up the framework of the modernist architecture seemed to sprout upwards in towering columns. Lush green forests sprout the land only being broken by the river that flowed from the volcano. Altogether it was a majestic view.

Jaden still would have preferred to have taken the Airbus 380.

XXX

"Welcome new and returning students," greeted Councillor Sheppard loudly, "I congratulate you on making it this far but your journey has just begun -"

Jaden turned out the rest of the speech until the room numbers came up.

XXX

"Room number 18 ... 19 ... 20!" counted Jaden in glee as he finally reached his room. It was a pretty big. In fact it would have seem spacious if it wasn't for the fact that the two beds and two desks with computers didn't clutter up the area. It also seemed that his roommate had gotten here first.

"Hello I'm Bastion," introduced the Ra Yellow student to Jaden. Bastion wore the lemon yellow uniform design with a green turtleneck in comparison to Jaden's darker Golden yellow with a black undershirt. His black hair was neatly arranged in comparison to Jaden's spiked dark red and brown hair.

"I'm Jaden," greeted Jaden offering a hand, "I guess we're roommates then aren't we?"

"I guess that's true," shrugged Bastion as he took the offer, "I read on the pamphlet that Obelisk students each get their own rooms, Ras share with another roommate and Slifers have to bunk in groups of three or more."

"That's true," nodded Jaden before noting, "That's something most students don't bother reading."

"I like reading," stated Bastion absentmindedly.

"That's a good habit to have. Personally I prefer working with computers and drawing in my spare time," commented Jaden providing a bit more of himself, "Hey at least we have our own bathroom."

There was a minute sized toilet and counter for the two of them.

"Lucky us," smiled Bastion, "And the rooms seem quite clean as well."

"We're responsible for our own cleaning," shot back Jaden before listing, "Generally speaking the cleaning people come every Tuesday and Friday to clean the facilities but we have weekly checkups from our dorm student advisor who makes sure that everything is in proper working condition."

"How do you know what?" quizzed Bastion. That wasn't comment knowledge for new students and would have required hours of background research minimum.

"I heard a couple of older students talking about it," lied Jaden quickly, "Come on let's go explore the grounds."

Bastion tilted his head as he watched Jaden walk out, "Interesting."

Then realized his roommate had just left him. Now while he would have just unpacked his luggage it would be good to get a feel of what kind of person he'd be living with for a while. So that was why Bastion found himself running after Jaden.

"Hey wait up!" he shouted.

XXX

"Dimitri don't you think this might be a bad idea?" questioned Bastion trying to persuade their newly found companion from heading into the Obelisk duelling arena.

"We're students. We should be allowed to play here shouldn't we?" shot back Dimitri as he twirled his duel disk into figure eights.

"Jaden convince our friend to not play here," touted Bastion as he turned to the spiked brown and dark red haired boy.

Oh no

"Jaden?" pleaded Bastion

"Bastion it's the first day here. Do you really think that anyone else is actually going to care?" subverted Jaden as walked through the corridors with Dimitri, "We'll be around other first year students who are either too excited to care or probably don't know the rules."

Then he opened a door to the left quickly ushering the three of them into the arena.

"Jaden!" shouted Bastion into the nearly empty auditorium.

"Relax Bastion," calmed Jaden as he gestured to his friend, "If worse comes to worse I can talk our way out of the mess."

Bastion was about to snipe back when -

"Hey!" shouted an Obelisk blue student from the stands.

"You were saying?" raised Bastion as he eyed Jaden sceptically with a I told you so look.

"Okay fine. I'll -"

Dimitri then interrupted Jaden's words with, "Hey do you mind if we duel here?"

"Dimitri!" Bastion and Jaden shouted. Bastion for making the situation worse and Jaden for not letting him at least crack the ice.

"Look you Ras can't duel here," stated the student as he pointed to the Blue insignia on the walls.

"Yes we can but only if we duel one of you," reminded Jaden tapped his duel disk, "Or if one of us has permission from one of the faculty members."

"He seems to know alot about the rules," whispered Dimitri to Bastion who simply nodded at his new friend. Dimitri had decided to tag along in their exploration for the past hour. He was good company but that didn't mean there wasn't a time to not kick him out.

"Wait ..." drawled the Obelisk student as he got a better look at Jaden, "You're the guy who defeated Crowler. Hey Chazz!"

Up on the stands a pale boy with black eyes and black hair wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform stood up.

"Well, well, well if it isn't my lucky day. You're the punk who beat the Department Chair." answered Chazz as he walked down to the arena heels echoing through the room, "I was hoping to duel you since the end of the match."

"Then maybe we can as well," jumped in Dimitri giddingly.

Bastion turned to his friend, "Wait are you asking for a -"

"Three on three tag duel match," ended Raizou eyebrows furrowing.

Jaden beamed, "I don't see why not. There's three of us and three of you guys."

Taiyou smirked eyes zooming in onto Dimitri, "I'm game. What about you guys?"

"I guess I'm in this whether I like it or not," pulled in Bastion with a sigh. It would be just better to go along with this.

"Alright. What are the rules for the match?" stated Chazz as he starting flipping through the cards in his deck.

That got a surprised look from Dimitri.

"Rules?" queried Dimitri.

Incredulously everyone else looked at Dimitri. Sweating a bit at all the glares, Dimitri started to sweat. Jaden took pity on his companion.

"There's no official rule book for matches with more than two people," admonished Jaden, "So we'll have to agree on something."

"I say we use the three by -" recommended Bastion

"Hey Chazz," announced a hazel eyed, blonde haired girl who popped in to the auditorium. She wore the standard girl's uniform short skirt, and white shirt along with the optional fingerless gloves, "The welcome dinner is about to start. You're going to be late unless we hurry."

"Dam it", muttered Chazz under his breath ,"Alexis do you want to see me beat this mediocre Ra duellist or not? It will only take two turns."

"Chazz, " Taiyou warned," We both know that Crowler may like his Obelisks but there are things he does punish us harshly for."

This is one of them was the unspoken statement.

"Okay fine," acknowledged Chazz," Let's go."

Alexis stared as Chazz and his friends left the arena and did so for a minute before turning to Jaden.

"Sorry about that. Not all Obelisks are like Chazz," apologized Alexis.

"I heard you say not all, not most," pointed out Dimitri.

"Yeah. I can admit that quite a few of us can be a bit mean spirited," she acknowledged looking down to the ground a little, "Many of them forget that it least two thirds of them started from Ra Yellow or even lower."

Jaden just nodded as if understanding the issue, "The poor are frequently their own worst enemies. There isn't enough rich people interested in duelling for the academy to be crawling with Obelisks as it is so they must have all come from somewhere."

A tense silence filled the arena. Jaden had apparently hit home.

"Anyways we should be going," tossed Bastion breaking the silence," Our own welcoming dinner would be eating soon and we don't want to be late for that either."

"One more thing," added Jaden stopping Dimitri and Bastion their tracks.

" Yes?" Shuttered Alexis.

"Where is the basketball courts?"

That piked everyone's interests; especially Bastion's. The question had come out of the left field for everyone. No one spoke a word due to the awkwardness.

"Why?" Queried Bastion once again breaking the silence, "Didn't read the Brochure properly?"

The last part was obviously a little teasing on Jaden's part but it seemed to work.

"Well..."

"They are the building to the North of the Tennis Courts," saved Alexis.

"Thanks Alexis. I was just wanting to know so that I didn't get my butt kicked when I played my cousins when I go home," settled Jaden,"My uncle would never let me live it down."

At that moment everyone chuckled tension completely gone now.

XXX

Finding seat in the small lecture room had not been a major issue. Getting a seat where the three of them could sit side by side though? That took some charm. While they were not the last group of students it was quite clear that they certainly weren't the first.

"So what's this guy's name?" Questioned Dimitri as he turned to Jaden.

"Sartyr. Professor Sartyr. Not much is known about him. The man keeps a low profile. Unlike Crowler he doesn't actively go around boasting hid latest achievements or protégés. The guy has been working at duel academy for a few years now. Quite liked around campus from what I have heard and cooks curry for his students," listed Jaden answering Jaden's question.

Bastion analysed what Jaden had said before looking at the short man in question, "Not much more I can tell you. Man seems quite content with how and where he is right now. Still, you don't get a position at duel academy without something outstanding about you."

"Really," smirked Jaden we he turned to Bastion.

"Yes really," stated Bastion crossing his arms, "There's something about Sartyr that I can't place."

Tranquillity. That's what Bastion wasn't able to see though Jaden. Jaden had seen it on his father's many times. Of course that you shouldn't be looking at his father's face. You listened; the face lied. He could count on one hand the number of times he had seen his father volcanic first hand.

"Hello attendees of Ra Yellow, I am Professor Sartyr," greeted the short man, "Now I all know that your very hungry and don't worry the food will be exquisite, but I am mandated to perform this general briefing to you. Much of it is just common sense but there are some things you should all know before we start."

The slideshow started.

XXX

"As students of duel academy you have various responsibilities and privileges. One of the greatest privileges is gaining access to almost any card in the word for a very discounted price."

"An example would be Ancient Gear Golem?" Asked Dimitri.

"That's exactly correct. Duel academy allows you to pay for any card in two separate ways; direct debit such as credit card and cash or tokens. More on that later." nodded Sartyr "However be warned; some cards have such limited copies that even if Duel academy can purchase a license for them it'd first come first serve. You can still pre-order cards like I said below but for something as rare as the examples I have mentioned you better be quick to the purchase"

"Like Jinzo?," replied Jaden catching the attention of everyone in the room. Jinzo was basically considered a game-breaker for many students, "While the card does not have a strict license on it for a certain group like the Blue Eyes White Dragon for the Kaiba family getting an edition of Jinzo is next to impossible."

"That's completely correct," nodded Sartyr at Jaden's answer," Every year about two hundred million cards are manufactured at the bare minimum. Of those only about 200 of those are Jinzo. Further complicating the problem is that Duel Academy only gets a generous license to about ten copies annually. So for a card like Jinzo it's either rivet come first serve or you have to trade it one way or another."

"On the other hand there are some cards that are incredibly expensive to get because there was only one edition ever made up it. There is a used card website that the academy runs but that's the best you can get for it."

"Some examples I can think of off the top of my head are Dark Horus which can got up to the average daily salary for a normal person. So use your money wisely. Don't be the student who spent all their funds on the Blue Eyes Alternate White Dragon."

Everyone started laughing at the joke. Well everyone except for one.

XXX

"So what are tokens the things I keep taking about the most? Easy. They are a form of transaction and I will be honest with you, a form of leverage. Every week each student gets a certain number of tokens they can use for stuff such as amenities or buying cards from the card shop," explained Sartyr.

An eight star chip appeared on screen.

"However by registering your money into tokens you get even further discounted prices on many of the items from the stores of duel academy. There is a rule for which we cannot offer more than half the original am price and less than a quarter of the price of an item to students with direct assets."

"With tokens though that floor reduces to as much as one eight of the original price of an item. Each dorm student gets a cousin number of trend to spend with Obelisks the most and Slifers the least."

Another slide flickered over the screen.

"They are a form of leverage as I stated before. Unlike money which we are not allowed to confiscate, Academy tokens are something the faculty can take way temporarily or permanently if we believe it warrants to do so. So behave."

XXX

"So what chores do we do?" questioned a first year student in irritation.

"Oh nothing too intensive," waved Sartyr, "This is a small contribution to the academy for your stay here but we are not going to exploit your labour. Should you decide to actually work for the academy in any role such as a chef or plumber or trainee instructor you will be compensated and trained to do so."

"Good learning experience in an prestigious environment and we get paid," remarked Bastion before whispering to Jaden, "Plus it's a great thing to put on your resume."

Jaden nodded at the comment, "Work experience is nice. Especially if some of us don't become pro-duelists although most of us certainly will."

"I'm just happy there is not a banned card list," breathed back Dimitri softly to Bastion.

XXX

The four course meal which they were given was wonderful. Jaden may not have eaten as much as he could have but he was certainly content now. The Mini Crostini with avocado puree, mozzarella, fresh basil & black olives for a starter had just been the beginning followed immediately by a delicious lobster and shrimp soup. Of course the chicken stuffed with mushrooms, cheese and asparagus was not something to be trifled with.

Jaden turned to his roommate who was still cobbling up some of the raspberry ice cream they had been served. Bastion had managed to convinced Sartyr to lend him a plastic bowl for such an occasion. The creamy ice cream roasted in his mouth.

Chazz had to ruin it though.

XXX

"I'm surprised you even bothered to show up," taunted Chazz from the duel arena, "I would have thought beat it."

"Oh trust me he didn't want to come," admitted Bastion as he looked to Chazz and his posse, "But Jaden figured that if he didn't beat that attitude off your face you'd constantly harrass him until he did something stupid."

"Although there were other reasons," sighed Jaden before his face turned stony.

"So it's game," asserted Jaden activating his duel disk.

"Let's duel," stated Chazz.

"Get your game on," growled Jaden in return.

Chazz played his first move ,"I play Knight Day Grepher and play two cards face down."

Card Codex: Knight Day Grepher

Level: 4

Attack: 1700

Defense: 1600

Type: Warrior/ Gemini/ Effect

This card is treated as a Normal Monster while face-up on the field or in the Graveyard. While this card is a Normal Monster on the field, you can Normal Summon it to have it become an Effect Monster with this effect.

● During your End Phase: You can target 1 Equip Spell Card in your Graveyard; add that target to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Knight Day Grepher" once per turn.

Jaden simply divulged, "I play five cards face down."

"I play Pandemonium Watchbear," returned Chazz

Card Codex: Pandemonium Watchbear

Level: 4

Attack: 1300

Defense: 1800

Type: Beast/ Effect

As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, "Pandemonium" on your side of the field is not destroyed by your opponent's card effects.

Chazz acknowledged," I know you have something down there but here goes nothing. Now attack Jaden's life points directly."

Jaden smirked, "Not so fast. I play Mirror Force. Say bye to all your monsters. I now play one card face down."

Chazz growled," I play one card face down."

Jaden returned," I play one card in face down defense position."

Chazz drew one card and looked through his hand before answering," I skip my turn."

Back at the arena Dmitri grinned,"Oh Chazz is about to lose it. You never skip a turn."

Jaden beamed,"Well I play Jinzo! I sacrifice Fiend's Hand to summon it. Now attack Jinzo! Attack Chazz directly."

Chazz's life points - 4000 - 1600

Chazz reported looking at his life points ,"Not bad. You might have some skill after all."

But as Chazz drew his card his demeanor changed completely.

"Now let's see how - "

Alexis ran in blurting out,"We have to get out of here now! Security is on its way."

At that warning both of the companions of the duelist shot up from their seats.

Jaden cursed,"Fuck. And I was about to beat you right here."

Chazz smirked, "Don't kid yourself for a single moment. I had you right where I wanted you."

He looked at the two cars in hand in particular that he had just drawn; Change of Heart and Infernal Infestation.

Jaden just chuckled,"We will see about that."

Dimitri rambled,"Come on. We have to go now."

XXX

Getting out without being spotted had been ... sweat breaking to say the least.

Alexis panted,"Good thing we got out so fast."

Bastion justed nodded tiredly," Yeah any minute more and we would have been caught. Thanks by the way."

Alexis acknowledged Bastions words,"You'RE welcome for that. You three should be more careful around Chazz from now on. I've heard several disturbing things about him."

Jaden shook his head at her, "If you mean picking on people who aren't social élites like him I can deal with it."

Alexis intoned," I'm just providing a warning."

Jaden sparred back,"Well I can't say it wasn't something I had hoped for but I have to accept it. Just five more minutes and I would have toasted Chazz."

Bastion corrected," No offense Jaden but I saw the cards in Chazz hand. They looked like they would have done some serious damage."

Jaden once again chuckled. It was the same chuckle he had given Chazz, "Then look at what I played facedown."

Jaden shows Bottomless Trap Hole and Dark hole. Then revealed the cards in his hand. Robot Knight and Blizzard dragon.

Alexis eyes widened in surprise ," So no matter what you played it what draws did you would have won."

Bastion tiled his head no doubt thinking every thing through "I will give you this Jaden I'd nothing else; you're deck us very well structured."

Jaden waved," Thanks. We should be heading off now."

Dimitri pleaded," Can I get a hug for the save?"

Alexis just gave Dimitri a blank look at that.

Dimitri cried,"Oh come on!"

Jaden shuffled dragging Dimitri along with him,"Later."

A small slowly spread over Alexis's face as she watched the three boys walk away to the directions of the Ra Yellow dorm.

Kyrie was right. This is going to be a very interesting year.

XXX

The morning sun shown quite brightly through the covers waking Jaden up. He didn't get up from the crack of dawn but today was an exception. It was both the first day of classes and the first day he would "officially" meet Chazz in person. An ominious feeling started to settle in as Jaden turned on the cold shower.

Bastion on the other hand woke up an hour later, just as exhausted from the other night. Craning his head he looked down and noticed Jaden's empty bed. With a shrug he got dressed and prepared for the day. His class timetable was meticulously planned to be a concise and appropriate as possible.

Walking down to the cafeteria Bastion noticed Jaden eating a Burrito alongside several empty bowls and plates.

"I see you're getting a heavy start to the day," smirked Bastion as he greeted his friend.

Jaden turned, "Well duelling does work the appetite. Plus I don't want to stay as short as I am."

Bastion tilted his head at the statement, "Short? Jaden you're a little taller than I am and half the second years."

"Oh don't make me blush," blushed Jaden as he shook his body in a bit of a happy dance, "You're compliments don't make me happy."

"Is it working?" snickered Dmitri as he sat down with a bowl of porridge and three pieces of bacon.

"No." "Yes"

Jaden and Bastion turned to each other as they had simultaneously answered the question.

"Okay maybe it is," chuckled Dimitri, "So what have you guys got today?"

"I have Stein and Fonda this morning," answered Bastion reiterating his schedule from heart.

"Lucky," mockingly sniffed Jaden, "I got Crowler first thing in the morning. My first day here and I'm already facing off against the teacher that hates my guts."

"We'll pray for you," intoned his two friends as they bowed their heads.

"Hey!"

XXX

Of course all good things come to an end. The first breakfast with his new friends Jaden had been mostly of introductions. After all Bastion and Dimitri had been both willing to go with him in his impromptu duel against Chazz. Dimitri seemed to like bird watching, well researched gangster movies and knitting of all things.

The last had come as a murmur as it almost seemed that Dimitri was afraid to acknowledge it to them. Jaden and Bastion had quickly gotten that out of his stupor by saying that if it was something he liked then he liked it.

Who cared? They certainly didn't. If Dimitri wanted them to enter a knitting contest for his sake Jaden would do so in a heartbeat. Of course it would end in disaster on his part but it was the thought that matter.

This didn't help that outside of basketball Jaden's interests were computer programming, baking and Zumba of all things. Dimitri tried to lock Jaden in a headlock at the last comment earning a chuckled from Jaden.

Bastion on the other hand was very boring in his tastes such a mathematics and law of all things. There were crickets at that as both of the two boys had expected something equally embarrassing on his part. Oh well.

Oh and they shared duelling as a hobby but that was obvious.

Of course the happy morning spent on teasing Bastion for being so boring had come to an end when they saw who else was walking down the hallway towards them wearing backpacks like them.

"So it's the Ra Rejects," snipped Raizou as looked towards the three of them observing the duel disks each of their hands.

"Don't guys have anything else to do?" moaned Dimitri, "Why don't you go shoot some beer bottles or hit on some of the girls from the Obelisk dorms like normal guys do?"

"Why don't you just hand over your rarest card and we'll go do that," retorted Chazz opening his palm out.

"Then you will have to actually beat me in a duel for it," growled Jaden turning on his disk.

Bastion protested, "Jaden stop it. We'll be late for class if you duel Chazz now. Crowler's already mad at you. Don't make him angrier."

Taiyou picked up Bastion's suggestion, "He's right Chazz. We can duel these guys at Lunch. Let's just go already."

"Shut up," hissed Chazz before twisting to Jaden, "I think we all saw how the duel was about to end so it's only fair that I get the card. Or do you think you actually had a chance?"

Jaden seemed at the verge of picking up where Chazz left up but a pleading looking from Bastion make him reconsider.

"Move shitbird," Jaden urged not caring how things were going down as he tried to walk through Chazz, "I have class to get to."

Chazz just chuckled, "If that's the best you make up on the spot I can think of a few things worse I did to your sister like how she's such a -"

Chazz never got the chance to finish his sentence because the moment his face was soon pulverized by Jaden's duel disk knocking him to the ground.

"Ha my eye!" he screamed in pain.

Jaden just harshly looked at his duel disk and scoffed, "You got blood on my duel disk fucker."

"You'll pay for that!" shouted Raizou before charging at Jaden.

Dimitri and Bastion both gaped at Raizou's actions before jumping in. From there the six boys found themselves in a melee with all the kicking, punching and blood expected from it.

XXX

Professor Sartyr couldn't help but feel disappointed in the three Ra Yellow boys sitting in front of him on the window sills. It was not what he was expecting when he woke up this morning and he had been furious when he had heard what had happened. But seeing the state of the three of them and the time spent walking here had actually calmed him down a little. His talk with Zane has also helped. It was also why he was here as well although he was content to let Startyr do the talking.

Dimitri was nursing a black eye and his wrapped knuckles. Cuts littered his arms and his jacket was a mess. Bastion on the other hand was the worse of them all. His forehead was wrapped in bandages and a few teeth had been chipped from the fight. His stomach had to be stitch a little when Taiyou had stabbed him with his duel disk as pummelled him with Raizou holding him down. The only reason why he wasn't worse off was because Dimitri had pushed Taiyou away just as Jaden had thrown Raizou through a window.

Jaden. Now Jaden had a few scratches on him from the time Chazz had tried to grab his face but otherwise he was the least injured on them al;. There was blood on what was left of his jacket but none of it seemed to be his. That was probably because he had spent nearly a minute trying to beat Raizou to unconsciousness after he had stopped stomping on Chazz.

Like Taiyou and Dimitri his duel disk was completely broken.

"Please enlighten me," hissed Sartyr as stared down the three first years in front of him. Well two actually.

Jaden stare just grew colder.

"But before you do let me say how much trouble you three have caused me today. I was suppose to spend my first morning relaxing after serving food for my Ra Yellows. After that I would talk to Sheppard a bit and make sure my paperwork was properly cleared up. Then I would spend just an hour petting my cat. It's very soothing for the mind. Instead I get a call from security about a fight that occurred between six students, three of which are mine!" Sartyr yelled his voice getting louder the more he spoke, all semblance of civility gone.

At that comment all three of them bowed their heads in shame.

But that wasn't the end of it, "Not only that but I come from the infirmary with a complete detailed report of all the injuries that have occurred. Let's start with Taiyou whose the least worse of them all. Just a few bruises, a loose tooth and a slight concussion! Now let's move on to Raizou. Oh this is meaty. Someone got it into the idea to throw him through a window!"

"He was holding Bastion down," protested Dimitri.

"I protected Bastion like that because that's what I had to do," protected Jaden, "I'm not sorry for it."

"So you threw him through a window?!" shouted Sartyr, "You're lucky that he was wearing a backpack. Other than some scars, a dislocated and a couple of broken ribs he'll be fine. Now Chazz."

"He's lost half a litre of blood and I think he may need to leave the island for a while. Duel academy doesn't seem to have the facilities to handle his injury. He can fucking lose a fucking eye!" swore Sartyr face completely red.

"That's not including the cracked skull, missing teeth or broken ribs!" informed Sartyr, "So you better pray that you have a very good excuse or can guarantee that suspension will be the least of your punishments."

Truthfully Sartyr had talked to Crowler right before coming. The she-man had kicked up a fuss stating that Chazz's brothers were thinking about pressing charges of all things - in a school fight. Granted a bloody one but still. He didn't say it though because he didn't want to depress the boys too much; especially these three who had so much potential.

"Now," conveyed Sartyr as he looked at Jaden and hissed, "Why did you pummel Chazz with your duel disk?"

Jaden just scowled, "He said ... stuff about my sister."

"What stuff?" intoned Sartyr a look of understanding on his face.

"Just read my file," demanded Jaden, "It's all in there. Then watch the footage of what he said to me right before I hit him. You'll understand."

Sartyr just glared at Jaden, "I read your file boy. There's a lot of good things in it. Very great things. But there's just as many bad things."

"Tragic really," corrected Jaden. Zane snorted at the comment.

"I say bad because it is bad," returned Sartyr before looking at Dimitri and Bastion who were both staring at Sartyr expectantly, "I'll watch the video. If what you say is true then that changes everything. But all three of you are writing two things for me tonight; first a step by step report of what happened today. You each will be separated so that I can examine the reports with Crowler without any of you three colluding together. If Crowler and I find them acceptable then we'll lighten your punishments."

"But fuck one thing up," warned Sartyr ,"If I see even one detail off or different between your three reports and it's expulsion for all you."

"Second," added Sartyr with tranquil fury, "I want each of you to write an apology letter to every single one of them. No complaints. It'll make things easier for all of us if we get this out of the way."

"Do you understand?" he addressed to the three boys in front of him.

"Yes," they simultaneously replied.

"Good. Now go to Crowler's office. You'll be picked up from there," he stated before turning to Zane and beckoning," Watch them"

XXX

A phone rang through the room for a minute.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

Then finally it's owner picked it up.

"Yes?"

"I understand."

"Oh. He's lost an -"

Then it broke to pieces as it fell to the ground.


	3. Duel 3

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 3**

Ash. Fire. Smoke.

All three filled the room as Jaden tried to drag himself and the blood soaked body beneath him. Shrieks of terror and screams of pain filled the air as Jaden kept waddling on trying to find a door or any means or escape.

The smoke made it difficult to see and the flames made it too hot to think. The smell was causing his head to feel dizzy. Jaden still was working on instinct now, trying to find anything or anyway to get out.

The ash and sweat that covered his skin itched, sending needles of irritation into his muscles but that was the least of his worries now. Breathing, the most basic of basic needs was a horrendous task. It was like breathing in fire. Just another breath would keep him alive but if he breathed too much Jaden knew he was a dead man.

He had to get out now. Jaden knew that on a fundamental level. Then he saw the body he had been trying to drag out since that bastard decided to burn them all to death. The girl's hair was pitch black and the ash covered her fair skin made it difficult to see the clear blue eyes he always kept open for him in adoration. Blood mixed with sweat to cover her dark blue school uniform. Her breathing was erratic even in unconsciousness.

It was her dead weight that was keeping him down. But even then he knew that if he left his sister to die here he would never be able to live with himself.

 _There's a reason big brothers are born first._

And then he appeared.

Flame Wingman in all of his menacing glory. His mouths was sealed shut but the furious roar that came from him showed nothing but his true intent. The burning warehouse seemed to have done nothing to him while it had taken a scorching toll on Jaden. That wasn't including the limp he had received from the duel in now molten steel arena.

Flame Wingman's wing was angled in like a knife ready to stab Jaden to death. That didn't change the more pressing fact that his right arm dragon head was blazing with orange light.

"You left me to die!" Roared the elemental hero as he pointed his right arm to Jaden and his sister.

"No please ... I'm sorry!" pleaded Jaden as he tried to shield his sister. But it was all in vain.

"Burn Jaden!" Screamed Flame Wingman as a ball of fire scorched to Jaden's body.

"Burn like you let me burn."

Burn Jaden did as the heat scorched his skin. He shrieked in pain trying to light it out. His skin blackened and his eyeballs popped from the raw heat. His teeth gums glistened as blood dried up there. He wanted to die from the agony.

The pain made Jaden quickly shoot up in terror dripping with sweat in his cold, dirt free cell. It was a twisted version of one of his worst memories made only painful then what actually happened that day. Something Jaden thought was impossible.

With a sigh Jaden tried to get back to sleep hoping that the nightmares would not continue to plague him like they had done so for the past few years.

XXX

The sight before him left in curious. Especially because the blood and the glass shards had not all been removed yet. Security and law enforcement had come to take what they needed to take but there was still more clean up.

Which was why Zane was standing behind a barrier tape. There was little left to be said. Chazz taunted the wrong person and got into a frenzy that would scar him for life, the Ras would get expelled and life would move on. Honestly there shouldn't be much to report.

Personally Zane didn't care. As a member of Obelisk though he had to at least send some form of condolences to the three injured first years. There would probably flowers. He hated flowers.

The who charade seemed dishonest to Zane. While there was motions to go through and he did respect Chazz as a duelist he did not respect him as a person. The XYZ Dragon Cannon was just one example of how much Chazz had spent his wealth on his cards. For something so rare to be part of such s callous duelists deck.

It made Zane seers kn the inside and he didn't usually death against other people.

Beside him Kyrie just clasped her hands together at the wholesale carnage. That were flecks of tears on her eyes and she seemed to be almost praying if Zane didn't know that she wasn't the time to pray.

"There's nothing to cry here about Kylie, " commented Zane, "Just blood and glass."

"I hope they are okay." She whispered.

Zane stared at her,"They'll be fine. It's Chazz that everyone is talking about. They had to shave his head to take some of the class out properly. Or at least that's what the faculty are gossiping about."

Kyrie took the moment to look at Zane,"I didn't mean Chazz. That jerk was consistently horrible in Duel prep. He always got it in his head to hit in Mr and Alexis for some reason while beating down anyone he could at duel monsters."

"To be fair a lot of guys think you're pretty," stated Zane, "I don't though. Back on topic this whole fight was an overreaction."

"Or maybe it wasn't," shot back Kyrie," We don't know the full story Zane."

Zane just sceptically nodded "If Crowler has his way. I am probably never will. Let's go."

And he turned around and left.

XXX

If anyone asked Jaden how he felt about being stick in a solitary confinement cell he would have said that it was mind-numbing. For now the only interaction with the outside world was with a grunting security guard that brought him food three times a day and placed a black bag over his head when he had to go to the washroom. However Jaden knew that the slow imprisonment would eventually drive him insane with due time. It always this to inmates.

The lack of sunlight was slowly starting to dampen his mood. His cell had nothing in else in it, not even a bed or a bed sheet. It was completely empty.

Cold, clean and empty.

It had to have been two days at the very least since Jaden had been locked up in here. Six meals. That's what he counted by since there wasn't any light shining within the cell. His eyes burned a little whenever the flap opened. He got used to it thanks to the clicking sound it always made when it opened.

He wondered what happened to Bastion and Dmitri. Were then in such a similar situation locked up for who knew how long? He hoped not. They didn't deserve it. They had spent the first day together actually just getting to know each other and what their own dreams were.

It seemed so strange. Talking about your dreams. It was something you didn't share with people you just met. Yet they did. And they stood by him in the melee with those three Obelisks.

Was it just instinct that had guided them to jump head first for his sake, despite his recklessness? That question made Jaden giddy and terrified at the exact same time. He wanted to know the answer to that question.

He wanted it to be the right one.

Flames and ash. Screams of pain as Wingman burnt him. Those were the nightmares he had once had. They had become rarer over the years. This was the first time in nearly six months.

Perhaps it was the solitary confinement slowly bringing up the some of his fears to the surface. Whatever it was Jaden hoped he wouldn't go mad like many inmates did. Perhaps it was because he wasn't around people who cared for him like his family did. They always seemed to keep the black dog of despair at bay.

Whatever it was Jaden would never get an answer to that question because just then the door opened with blinding light.

XXX

Chumley grunted in frustration as he tried to rearrange his cards into a better format. He had been trying to do so for the past hour or so and every time he did something new the deck just spat out an even more horrible result.

 _I guess I truly am a red wonder._

Then he saw the door slam behind him as his roommate Syrus walked in covered in paint.

"What happened to you," questioned Chumley.

"The Obelisks," croaked Syrus, "Now I have paint on my school uniform. This is going to be a nightmare to clean and I already had to order another one after I lost my first."

"Didn't you report them as stolen?" asked Chumley.

Syrus just bemoaned, "And who actually believes that story."

Chumley just shrugged and went back to rearranging his deck. In courtesy he turned around to let Syrus change.

"Sometimes I just want to... I want to give them a piece of my mind. Like that Jaden guy did," drawled Syrus in frustration as he tried to get out of the sticky uniform.

"What did happen anyways?" queried Chumley. Did his roommate get into a duel with the new Obelisks. His roommate had terrible grades and an even worse dueling record. Not that he cared anyways. Chumley had too many of his own problems to deal with without letting Syrus's pile onto him.

He just put up with the kid because he was his roomate. That's all.

XXX

"I am not happy Jaden," stated Chancellor Sheppard shaking his head as the sun beamed into the room. After two days of solitary confinement the light took some getting used to.

Behind Jaden sat Professor Sartyr and Crowler. Both seemed to be looking at Sheppard although Jaden's senses told him that they were monitoring him just as much.

That was truly an odd thing to say. Being told to come here with a security guard escorting him. Jaden remembered seeing a desert eagle on the right side of his hip. The fact that they hadn't sent a teacher for him spoke equal volumes as much as the fact that the security guard was armed.

He wanted to know what was going to happen to him. To ask what happened to his friends. So many questions and yet he stayed silent from experience. After all Sheppard's room was full of unnecessary junk.

 _The more Spartan an office is the more competent and capable the person you are deal with is._

"Do you have anything to day for yourself?" Reiterated Sheppard as he peered into Jaden.

There was a lot to be said but now and here wasn't the time.

After a moment of silence Sheppard leaned back, "Your school yard brawl has caused immense property damage, gracious harm to fellow students and destruction of duelling equipment. I have half a mind to suspend the three of you for what you did. " listing the issues he had caused.

"I have been calling for his expulsion Chancellor," remarked Crowler from behind Jaden. Satyr remained completely silent as he scribbled something down onto his notepad.

"That's true Crowler and you do have point when it comes to the consequences however I do believe that this situation is ... unique because of the circumstances involved," reminded Sheppard.

"Chancellor you are not thinking of -" protested Crowler standing up in fury.

A scowl covered Sheppard's face.

 _Bad move Crowler._

"Enough!" Shouted Sheppard," I asked you to come to this interview to see the boy that beat you with three normal monster cards because you insisted for it. I allowed you to be a witness because I commended your expertise Professor."

The last word seemed to have a steely tone to it.

 _Oh crap. Is he going to ..._

"However I have not decided on Jaden's punishment yet for two main reasons. First I'd like to point out that Chazz has a history of bullying other students stretching all the way back to his duel prep school days. Perhaps he should not have provoked someone who was willing to get physical about it?" Scolded Sheppard adding the last part with some vindictiveness.

Crowler froze in shock and anger.

 _How dare Sheppard bring that up and now of all times._

Crowler rigidly reminded in insistence, "Those four complaints about Ante Duelling and improper conduct are -"

"Unsustained. But none are untrue. You have told me this Crowler many times," finished Sheppard.

Sheppard and Crowler then turned to Jaden once again. Satyr just ticked something on his notepad.

"So where does that leave the boy then," frosted Crowler.

"That's the second reason I am reluctant to punish him so severely. That's boy who you we talking about I'd a good, perhaps excellent duellist. I am reluctant to throw such talent away especially over something like this." Continued Sheppard looking to Crowler, "His friends however are a completely different matter..."

Then he turned back to Jaden.

"Rewrite your report for me Jaden. Be my witness and I will make sure that only those two are expelled," offered Sheppard as he pulled out a form from his desk..

 _Does this guy take me for an idiot?_

"It sounds like a deal to me," cooled Satyr as he looked at Sheppard with open hatred.

There were so many instances of the Obelisk students picking on Ras and Slifers and while Satyr did not condone violence he was furious that Crowler was taking action now of all times. Sheppard just usually ignored the issues because he saw the fact that many Ras and Slifers did advance up to Obelisk Blue eventually.

"I do not see the need to protect Jaden so much. I prefer that you either punish them all equally or let them all go equally. Nothing else. That is if Jaden -"

"No."

That little word echoed through the room. Satyr slowly beamed at Jaden with pride before finally ticking something off his notepad.

"No?" Smirked Sheppard ,"I am offering s deal like no other."

That was true. However the whole charade seemed a bit forced on Sheppard's part. Was this why they had simply locked him up in solitary confinement for the past few days? To badly act this up?

And even if this was true, even if the deal was genuine Jaden knew he could accept and build himself up from an expulsion. Yes it would be hard and he would probably be kicked out of his home but Dimitri and Bastion. Those two had so much to live for.

"I know that." Croaked Jaden with a bitter smile, "But I will not abandon them."

"You have only known that people for two days. Is that something you are willing to at least be held back a year for?" Returned Sheppard as he turned to look at a photo of him and Zane holding up a trophy.

"You already know my answer.," confirmed Jaden, "I am not going back now."

 _This might be my life and I may choose how to use it but I can't choose for them._

"Very well." Sighed Sheppard massaging his head.

That caused an immediate cheer from Crowler.

"A-ha !" Danced Crowler.

He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the hard look developing on Satyr's face, or the resignation on Sheppard's. In fact he had been dancing with such fervour that it took him nearly thirty seconds to recognize the tone shift. It was only when Satyr slid the notepad to Sheppard did Crowler recognize something was wrong.

"Aren't you going to have security kick them off the island?" Asked Crowler slowly, "If you want I request to have them kicked out within an hour."

Satyr just reported, "It seems that our deal is about to go into effect isn't it?"

Sheppard just crossed his hands at the dorm leader who bowed to him and left the room.

"Yes. Two weeks from now Taiyou, Raizou and Chazz will duel Jaden, Bastion and Dmitri in three one vs. one matches."

"What? I beg you to reconsider Chancellor," Crowler requested.

"Really?" Nodded Jaden, "What are the odds?"

 _This is something I can deal with._

"Oh I think you both will like this," smirked Sheppard," Should the Ra Yellows be the overall winner of the matches the three of you will be confined to mere house arrest for a month. You will be allowed to duel in the dormitories and go to classes with nothing being reported on your permanent record after six months."

 _That's a lot of goodies but I sense there's just as much of bad stuff in it._

"But fail to win ," Sheppard pointed to Jaden, "And it's expulsion for the three of you."

XXX

Bastion and Dimitri were both looking through the pile of cards they had gathered together trying to put them together.

"We have less than eleven days to beat those guys," exclaimed Dimitri as he continued to look at the pile of cards in despair, "That's not nearly enough time for us to beat them."

"Dimitri we will get through this," answered Bastion before looking up at Jaden, "How's the programming going Jaden?"

"Fine so far," grunted Jaden as he fiddled with his computer, "It will take a few days for me to make sure that no one suspects us. Other than that no problems."

"If someone told me a week ago that I would be helping a friend in a physical fight and that I would be getting expelled from Duel Academy if I didn't get into a tag team match I'd have laughed at them," moaned Bastion as he continued.

Dimitri sarcastically reminded, "Maybe not the tag team match but the fight? Oh yes."

Bastion and Dmitri both continued to try and organize the cards into a working deck format although neither of their solutions came up to be perfect. Thirty three deck formats from over eight hundred cards that they had all dumped into the pile.

"So what do we know about these guys?" asked Dimitri as he stimulated his deck against what was Taiyou's AI.

"From what I do know they all went to duel prep school," admitted Jaden as he clicked and checked the progress of his computer, "That means that they're decks are generally registered. Unfortunately though said contents are only available for Obelisk students to look at."

"So it's an internal dorm thing," nodded Bastion, "What else did you find out about those three?"

Jaden closed a window on his computer screen. He had been deliberately keeping as much stuff from Bastion and Dmitri just in case he did get caught. Both of the boys understood but were waiting for Jaden to finish.

"Other than the fact that they'll be in the hospital for another week?" stated Jaden as he swirled his chair to Dimitri and Bastion, "Surprisingly a lot. The duel prep school Chazz, Raizou and Taiyou went to required that each student have three decks for multiple competitions. Furthermore as a student of Duel Academy I can look through the videos of what kind of cards they used during their entrance exams to see what's their general built."

"I sense a but ..." cautioned Dimitri turning to Bastion who tilted his head to the wall.

Jaden just nodded, "But that's not nearly enough. I have to find out what is the makeup of each of their three decks and that means breaking into their Duel Prep School list."

Bastion just chuckled instead nudging Dimitri, "And I sense another but ."

That caused Jaden to mop to the floor on all fours. He just stayed there for a minute before getting up.

"Yes. The decks they have listed can be as little as a month to as much as a year old. Altogether when I do break into the files in Duel Prep it'll just be a good starting point but not something perfectly concrete," acknowledged Jaden.

Dimitri and Bastion lowered their heads at the issue but they had something that was very rare for duellists; time.

Dimitri shrewdly pointed out," I wouldn't put it past them to have several upgrades to their decks by the time they're duelling us. It would be just within their nature to have gotten several new cards so that information you would get would be even more outdated."

"But as Jaden has said," reminded Bastion as he closed his eyes, "It's a good starting point."

For nearly a minute there was just sat there in silence, basking at what they were about their plans when Dimitri turned to Jaden.

"Why are you doing all this for us?"

Jaden just took a deep breath and shot back, "Why did you get involved in my fight? Both of you jumped in for me without any hesitation. I got you into this mess so I will try get the two of you out of it. Honestly why did you jump in?"

Dimitri stared out the window looking towards the evening sky, "When you went to duel Chazz I thought it would be an interesting sight to see. I wanted it to be a clash of titans and of power to power. Ever since I saw the semi-final match between Yugi and Kaiba when I was six, I wanted to be at the front row seat of something like that."

"Then I saw you beat Crowler Jaden. Yes Crowler did some stupid moves but you basically beat him to the ground with nothing but normal monsters. That's when I knew that I knew that you were going places. Maybe it's not healthy for someone like me but I'm basically the Ra Yellow version of Syrus Trusedale. I got here on luck."

The more Dmitri talked the more he started to pace around the room.

"I want to reach the top of the duelling world. I want to be one of those who stand on the sky and stare down to the rooftops of those below me. My deck sucks. I will admit that. That's why I keep copying so many other duellists. I want to be them because even a shadow is better than nothing."

"'Why settle for the roof when you can have the sky' Prince Ojin at the Pro League," noted Jaden.

"Yeah. I know that was emotional. You've heard me say it once already but I wanted you to know," sniffed Dimitri.

Jaden just beamed at Dimitri as he hugged Dimitri, "Well if we're going to reach the top of the world, there's no place to be than at the bottom."

"So about the deck ..." continued Bastion trying to get back on track. Not that he wanted to but the three of them had work to do.

"Let's get our game on!" hyped Jaden.

XXX

"Where's that Ra boy Jaden?" questioned Crowler as he swam across the river in his black swimsuit.

The Chancellor had gone to easy on them in Crowler's opinion. Not only that but the fact remained that while what Chazz had said, now that he knew the context, was pretty bad what Jaden had done was inconceivable. Nevertheless he didn't want the boys to go to jail for something like that just out of the academy where they wouldn't be able to cause trouble for the other students.

Which was why it was a complete surprise to see his two favourite female Obelisk students standing on motorboats. What were Alexis and Kyrie doing here at this time of the night.

"- and another thing. Just so you know," reminded Kyrie, "If I win I get your number and am allowed to distribute it to whoever I want or whoever I ask for it."

Alexis just smirked at that comment, "Oh I know. However if I get constant calls from my fangirls and fanboys I will ..."

"You'll what?" teased Kyrie Wheeler waving long hair back, "Get mad at me and break up our friendship?"

That caused a growl from Alexis. Mindy and Jasmine just snickered. Seeing the joke of it though changed Alexis's mood.

"I'll actually say I'll give you the cold shoulder for at least a week after each call. So that might be a yes," laughed Alexis as she looked at her friend.

Where was Jaden anyways? He should be here by now.

Crowler kept echoing that thought in his head as the two girls talked and teased each other a bit. Any hot-blooded teenage boy should have jumped at the chance to return the feelings of any beautiful girl. Especially if said girl was Alexis Rhodes.

"Alright let's do this then," announced Kyrie as she pulled out a card from the deck, "Since we don't have any scoreboards and I don't feel like losing any coins into the water let's see what kind of card I'm holding up."

 _Oh so they're using the service ace method._

"You've always been so cheap with these things," noted Alexis right before scrunching up her face clearly in thought. Then she opened her eyes, "Is it a spell card?"

"Nice work," admitted Kyrie as she turned the card giving Alexis a good look at it.

Raigeki.

That caused Crowler to smirk a little. Raigeki was an incredible card and had been on and off the ban list for years until finally the head committee had made it perfectly legal in all regional tournaments. There was always a ban list for minor and moderate sized tournaments. Major tournaments had no ban list.

"Wait a minute," tensed Alexis get a long look at the card, "That's not one of your cards Kyrie. Who's deck are you using?"

Kyrie just bowed her head a little and murmured, "Someone who knows how to make me do stupid stuff like this."

"What?" shouted Alexis as she moved her head a little closer, "I can't hear you from here!"

"Just someone who I know," commented Kyrie this time a bit more louder.

"No really I want to -" asked Alexis right before Kyrie interrupted her in exasperation

"Let's duel already!"

"Fine," huffed Alexis as she turned on her duel disk, "Let's see what you have.

Although the love letter seemed to have been a wasted opportunity, Crowler couldn't help but become more curious himself. Who was the mysterious duellist that had loaned Kyrie the deck?

That didn't matter though. The duel was about to start.

Alexis started, "I play Blade Skater and then equip her with White Veil. Then I play one card face down."

Kyrie just tutted a bit at Alexis, "I activate Dark Hole!"

Blade skater screamed a bit as she was pulled into the vacuum

"Then I play two cards face down and play High tide Gyojin. Now attack her directly!" shouted Kyrie.

Alexis LP: 4000 - 2350

Alexis scrunched up at the way the duel was going, "I play one card face down in defense mode."

Kyrie nodded at the action before summoning, "I play Dharma Cannon. Now attack Alexis' face down monster Gyojin!"

Turns out the destroyed monster was Cyber Angel. _Too bad_ thought Crowler. Just another weakness of her deck.

Alexis LP: 2350

"Then attack her lifepoints Dharma Cannon!"

Alexis LP: 2350 - 1450

"You're really off your game today Alexis. Is something wrong?" queried Kyrie as she compared her lifepoints with Alexis's.

Alexis just shrugged off her friend's worries, "No. Just getting used to your new deck. When you said you wanted to duel me I never expected you to change to something else."

"Or someone else," murmured Jasmine, "Still if Alexis doesn't pull something off soon ..."

Alexis continued as she drew her cards," I play one card in defence mode."

Kyrie just nodded, "I see. But it won't save you now. I play one card in defence mode as well. Unlike you though I have a lot more monsters on the field. Now attack again High Tide Gyojin!"

Apparently the monster Kyrie had destroyed this time was Etoile Cyber.

 _She's really not prepared for this is she?_ thought Kyrie. Granted there was several key weakness of Alexis's deck but that was the problem with using a theme. Oh well

Kyrie then finished, "Now attack her lifepoints Dharma Cannon!"

Alexis LP: 1450 - 550

"Okay. That's it," snarked Alexis as he drew a card, "Whose deck are you using? I'm not prepared for this."

"Let's just say it's a secret," replied Kyrie, "Now play!"

Alexis grind her teeth for a moment before looking at her card. Just what she needed.

Alexis announced, "I play Pot of Greed."

Looking at her new cards Alexis's frown vanished.

"I now play Monster Reborn to bring back Etoile Cyber then I fusion summon Etoile with the card I just drew Blade Skater. Then just to be on the safe side I play Mystical Space Typhoon. Destroy that that face down card to the left."

Flipping it over Alexis got a very long glimpse of the destroyed card. It registered with her somewhere.

Bottomless trap hole.

Kyrie smirked a little, "Not bad! But I have to say it's not going to be enough."

Alexis laughed a little along with her friends, "I know. So say hello to Cyber Blader. Since there are two monsters on your side of the field she doubles her attack points."

Cyber Blader's Attack: 2100 - 4200

"Now attack!"

Kyrie just smirked as her friend's monster flew to Gyojin ,"Yeah. No. You lose. Say hello to Negate Attack."

The trap card's effect immediately stopped Cyber Blader's attack.

Alexis bemoaned "But that means that ..."

"Cyber Blader stays but your Battle Phase ends now," smiled Kyrie as she looked at her next card.

As Kyrie slowly scrunched up her face, the colour drained from Alexis's own.

"Oh."

Kyrie repeated happily, "Oh indeed. You were so proud to summon that card Alexis. It was cute."

Then he reminded, "But you forgot one of the most basic rules in duel monsters."

Kyrie and Alexis answered together "Don't attack without disabling trap cards."

Alexis questioned as she looked at Kyrie's hand, "Does that deck have a lot of counters? If so I would have added at least another Mystical Space Typhoon."

Kyrie placated "I would bet every single Cyber Angel that it does. Now that that's out of the way let's jam! I tribute Dharma Cannon and High Tide Gyojin to summon Spiral Serpent! Now attack her Cyber Blader Spiral Serpent!"

That caused everyone in the area of the owner's deck to gasp in shock at the powerful monster that was just summoned.

 _No way!_

"Incredible," gasped Crowler as he bobbed in the water, "To summon such a card and to end a duel. It's truly is worthy of a professional duellist."

Alexis LP: 550 - 0

It took a moment for the outcome to register with Jasmine and Mindy but once they did it was all cheers from there.

"Way to go Kyrie!" Jasmine shouted from her boat.

"I want to see more!" exclaimed Mindy.

Alexis on the other hand just sighed as she pulled out her electronic, "You win. You can use it for whatever purposes you want."

Kyrie requested back as she got the number once again, "And the other thing?"

Alexis rolled her eyes at that. "And the other thing as well."

Crowler couldn't help but gap in shock at the turn in events. Alexis, the greatest female student of the year lost to Kyrie Wheeler. Granted it wasn't so surprising since Kyrie was the child of two great duellists but the fact that she lost without losing a single life point was astonishing.

"I have to report this to Sheppard," he murmured, although how he would do so without explaining his involvement would be another matter. In the meantime though he would have to find some way to get out of the swimsuit. Preferably without being beaten half to death by the janitor who thought he was an alligator.

XXX

Back at the Ra Yellow Dorm Jaden, Dimitri and Bastion had finished building their decks and stimulating what would be their best strategies for their day. It was time to just do some school work. While they were under house arrest for now that didn't mean that it was appropriate to slack off; especially because they had to keep taking their classes when they could.

"Did you finished the Advanced Math's worksheet Bastion?" queried Jaden to his roommate.

Bastion just nodded as he continued to look through Dimitri's answers, "You got something wrong for Question 17 Part C and Question 23 Part B Dimitri."

"Thanks," expressed Dimitri as he returned his homework sheet, "Now about the ..."

A knock appeared on the door. Jaden looked at his friends before shrugging.

"I know works fast but not this fast," he whispered.

Standing in front of the door was Yamanaka who was sweating a little at Jaden's presence.

"Yes?" Jaden asked.

"Some Obelisk girl dropped a package for you," he quivered.

"Oh." replied Jaden emotionlessly, "I better go pick it up."

Jaden brushed past Yamanaka causing the boy to scream in terror, "Please don't hurt me."

"What?" shouted Jaden.

"Wait we don't to hurt you," soothed Dimitri as he tried to placate Yamanaka.

Bastion just commented as he looked out the door hoping no one else heard what had been said, "We don't go around picking on people if that's what you mean. Jaden would you mind explaining?"

That was if he didn't notice Jaden bouncing on his feet at the very moment.

"Jaden?"

"Can't now," answered Jaden as turned to the end of the hallway, "There's something I have to pick up. Trust me; it's worth it. Just talk to him for now."

And then he was gone

"Uh..." Yamanaka just quaked.

Bastion sighed at his friend's antics. One day it would get them all sent to the an alternate dimension where they'd be killed.

"Just come in," he politely gestured trying to be as non-threatening as possible.

XXX

In an abandoned building Titan was giggling quite happily at the state of his new cards. So amazing. That wasn't to say his new powers were not as incredible either. He was going to enjoy testing them out, even if there was some sort of mental banging going on.

Actually it had turned out that the banging was coming from the locked door.

 _Right. I forgot to disable the alarms._

Two security guards in black suits smashed through the door waving their guns at him.

"Don't move a muscle or we'll shoot you with our visible guns!" shouted one of the guards.

 _I guess I can drabble a bit with my powers after all. Who knows ..._

"Ha!" mocked Titan. All the lights in the room flickered.

"I said don't move!" roared the guard as he cocked the Glock 17 to Titan. His partner on the other hand noticed something was very off.

The guard furthest away from Titan suddenly felt something sticky drip down to his shirt. Taking a quick swipe without taking his eyes off Titan, he nabbed a glance at the sticky liquid.

Dried blood.

Gaping in surprising the guard turned his head up to the source of the blood. It was a corpse. Maybe a few hours old but clearly dead. The person's face was twisted in horror and pain.

 _Are those ... stab wounds?_

For a moment all he could do was continue to gap in horror before pointing his gun at Titan with new purpose.

"Get on your -"

It was too late by then. They had no chance against Titan. Teeth bared, eyes flickering yellow and the faint whispers of someone assaulted the guards.. Then shadow man charged at the two guards. Their screams would fill the night just as much as the blood covered the floor dripping through the cracks. Far more people would die that night before Titan's frenzy had been slated for the time being.


	4. Duel 4

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 4**

XXX

Thousands of kilometres away in an outhouse a man was peacefully sleeping after a very stressful day of work. Every day was stressful but then again that was to be expected. so for the moment he was just relaxing and enjoying the lack of noise, light and the warmth of the woman on top of him. It was a very pleasant experience and one which he didn't get to enjoy as much as he wished.

Then his phone rang.

At first he it didn't stir him, but the continuous beeping sound along with the fact that he was a light sleep groused him from his bed. He hated the fact that such a wonderful sleep had been interrupted but it would almost certainly be something important. Wobbly he moved towards the phone. The woman made a small murmur in noise from the loss of her favourite furnace. Though he would love to return to bed he knew that the phone would not have rang unless something massive had occurred.

Picking up the phone he groused, "I thought I told you not to call me on this number unless something ..."

There was a bit of chatter from the other side of the phone causing his eyes to widen slightly.

"Yes," nodded the man, "What's your point?"

There was another explanation.

"He did WHAT!" roared the man causing the woman to shoot up from the noise.

XXX

Dorothy was starting to wish that she had just bought a spare identification card. Sure it would have cost a lot of money and would be redundant in most situations but right now it would certainly help against the situation that was right in front of her.

"Ma'am I know this is difficult but I can but I can't let you inside the building without your ID. Please be advised that Duel academy does not find herself responsible for any lost pieces or property," advised the female security guard in front of her.

The woman had been brought in because the personnel in question didn't want to have to deal with harassment claims should the situation require extensive touching.

'That's not true and you know it," recoiled Dorothy in frustration. The security guards on the pier just stiffened.

"Things have been rough and very tight. I am sorry," apologised the guard," On any other day I would have let you into this building but campus administration has been cracking down in everyone. I am sorry."

Her partner grunted, "You must have missed the memo,"

"- but today's a very special day. I have to get in," reminded Ms. Dorothy to the people in front of her.

"Look I'm sorry ma'am but there is nothing I can do," replied the guard as he motioned Ms. Dorothy to exist the facilities.

Then he looked at her crying expression one last time before bowing his head, "I'm sorry."

XXX

"Ms. Dorothy how is it going?" Asked Jaden jogging towards at the frustrated woman at the grand pier sweat glistening a little on his forehead.

"Oh just fine. Just fine," Ms Dorothy grunted as she flipped a stone over.

"Ms. Dorothy ," insisted Jaden.

It was really obvious that something was bothering the old woman. Otherwise she wouldn't be here. The brochure had said that Dorothy was a person who owned the card shop but that was it.

Ms. Dorothy just gave in, "Okay it's because of the stupid regulations. Ever since some kid threw another kid out a second story window the whole academy has been crawling with regulators. Any other day I would have been able to get in but since I lost my ID card I can't make it off the pier."

 _Wait what?_

 _She's here because of me?_

It seemed insignificant really but the fact remained that this was a person who had been affected by his actions. While Jaden didn't really care much about other people he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about causing such an inconvenience for her. Time was money after all.

"What about calling the head office?" Jaden asked.

"Sheppard's not there and none of the receptionists know me well enough of a personal basis to risk anything," she listed, "It's basically a waiting game for me now."

"Can't the security guards just let you in for today though?" steadied Jaden.

"No," she hummed, "And I was suppose to make a huge sale today. Especially with the new rare cards that are about to be shipped here in a few hours. I was too excited this morning to care. Duel Monsters does that for everyone. Speaking of which why are you here this early Jaden?"

Yes why was Jaden here? Didn't students have a test to sit the last time she remembered.

"I took the early test today so I wouldn't have to deal with the Obelisks. Then I came for a run whenever I'm feeling a bit frustrated," elaborated Jaden sitting down next to the woman, "It keeps me calmer for the rest of the day now that I don't feel as restless."

"Oh. I see," the older woman closed, "I guess I can't do anything about it this can I? Life just doesn't work out like that does it?"

That got a shake from Jaden.

"Maybe it doesn't" admitted Jaden looking over the horizon, "There might not be anything you can do but there's something I can."

"Wait here," instructed Jaden before taking off running., " I might be able to find someone else who could help you out."

Ms. Dorothy could only stare at the strange boy as his body grew smaller and smaller.

XXX

"Professor Satyr," knocked Jaden as looked at the wooden door in front of him. It had taken some help finding Satyr's office even though he was the Ra Yellow Dorm leader. Thankfully his punishment didn't start until tomorrow otherwise Jaden knew he'd be kicked off the island.

It had been two days since his solitary confinement and Sheppard had apparently decided to give them two days off before they're house arrest kicked in.

After a couple of minutes Jaden heard some shuffling signalling that Satyr had quickly arrived.

"Sorry about that my computer wasn't working properly at the moment and I needed to get some files sorted in order," commented Satyr before recognizing the person in front of him, "What do you need?"

The last sentence had a much harsher tone on it.

That perked Jaden up a bit, "Do you know Ms. Dorothy?"

Satyr raised his eyebrows at that.

"The card shop owner?" replied Satyr, "Yes. Yes I do."

 _Okay here goes nothing. Time to do what I came to do._

"Can you convince the security guard to get her on to the island?" he questioned slowly.

Satyr rubbed his chin, "Perhaps. What's the issue? And why do you care?"

That was something he didn't want to ask yet but Jaden knew that it had to come out sometime.

"Well she forgot her ID and with the new security protocols because of ..." trailed Jaden.

"Because of your actions," grunted the short man closing his door, "Look I can give a call to Sheppard if that's what you want me to do."

Jaden blocked it with his foot.

"Couldn't find him," elaborated Jaden, "Those three guys are getting out of the hospital today, except for maybe Chazz. Sheppard just went to visit them so he's not available for today."

"I see," understood Satyr, "And you obviously didn't want to go to Crowler because the man would have just laughed in your face."

"Yes," admitted Jaden, "Is there anything you can do?"

"And why would I?" scowled Satyr, "It's not my problem and not my issue that Ms. Dorothy can't find her ID. She's a card shop owner who doesn't know how to play Duel Monsters. Good riddance."

 _Okay he's being a bit of a jerk now. Time to try some charm._

"Look," reminded Jaden, "It wouldn't cost you much Satyr. At most all you will have to do is call the head of security and let Ms. Dorothy in. You almost certainly see her every week. That's not a random person mind you."

Seeing Satyr's face scrunch up in thought made Jaden mentally smile. It was a good thing he didn't decide to intimidate him after he hacked the cameras outside the office. Although he did wish for a moment that he had the augs to read him better.

Jaden then slowly conceded," I'm not asking you to put your career on line for her. All I'm asking is for one five minute phone call."

"Fine," let out Satyr, "Have it your way. I'll make the call."

XXX

Just as Jaden had entered the Ra Yellow dormitory he had gotten a test from the front office.

"Call from home Jaden," noted the receptionist.

"Oh. Thanks," expressed Jaden back.

 _Deep breath. Deep breath. This was going to happen sometime. I just hoped it wasn't going to be this soon._

"Yo! Jaden here!" greeted the two tone haired boy loudly in the empty phone room.

"Don't Yo me you stupid little prick! Now I don't normally swear to people, let alone my children but did it ever cross your mind the trouble you have caused me?" shouted Jaden's father in a fatigued tone causing Jaden to pull himself away from the phone a bit.

"Dad!" raised Jaden as he pushed the phone away again. Now he was going to get an earful.

"Don't dad me you two tone stupid boy! That's what you always say when you want to try and negotiate with me! And let me tell you something! It's not going to work now!" ranted the man over the phone.

 _Ouch._

"Allow me to list everything that has happened in the past twelve hours since I've gotten that phone call from Sheppard about your "incident". I've had both of the Princeton brothers come into my office personally. _Both!"_ emphasizing the last word.

 _Did I really do something that horrible? It seemed so tame compared to ... well everything._

"The last time I've seen both of them together was four years ago. Now I have both of them threatening you with assault charges. You're incident cost me money not to mention the fact that they now have blackmail material on you Jaden. Do you hear me? You're lucky I managed to bury this as deep as possible otherwise it'd be all over the news! You should have been expelled! Your mother was worried sick about you and was crying her eyes out from the whole mess you've created!"

It really was that horrible. The last time his father was ever this angry at him was five years ago.

"Mom! No please don't do this to her. It'd destroy her if I got expelled," shouted back Jaden as he looked at his phone in tears.

"I know. I still don't know why you haven't been expelled. Even if that Chazz boy had insulted your sister and my daughter, I should remind you, simply making sure he would be one-eyed for the rest of his life would have been fine. Stomping on his face for two whole minutes was too far!"

"Well you try staying calm after -" retorted Jaden.

"I am calm now," growled Jaden's dad over the phone, "I was feeling so mad a few hours ago that I felt like taking a flight to Duel Academy so that I could yell at you in person. But your mother convinced me to simmer down for a few hours."

Then he stopped talking. Jaden knew that this was always when it was his turn to speak up if nothing more than to use whatever words he had against him later.

"So what's going to happen now?" queried Jaden as he glanced at the empty phone room. Once again he was completely glad it was just him here. If anyone else heard this conversation he'd hate to have to explain everything.

While Jaden wasn't trying to hide his secret he was hoping to keep it under wraps for as long as possible.

"Well what is going to happen now Jaden? I talked with Sheppard a bit and he still has a lot of grievances with you. I asked him about the punishment that you will be receiving and that's when he said to just talk to you. Now talk," he demanded.

Jaden did. He talked about the deal he had gotten from Satyr and how Crowler and Sheppard had reacted. He had talked about the fact that he was going into a triple one on one life-point battle with two of his friends and he talked about the fact that if he got expelled then he would accept it. Jaden said many things.

For a minute his father was completely silent.

"Do they know?" he broke out.

"No," admitted Jaden, "They don't."

"Then they're good friends to have. Keep them around," he simply stated, "It's a good deal for you. Since you took it all you have to do now is win. I will take care of damage control from here."

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about or are you just going to yell at me again?" tear out Jaden. He would have thanked his father right then and there. That's what he should have done.

But he didn't.

"Jaden I'm still furious at what you did despite knowing everything. I still will be in a week when I give you the punishment deck I've devised up. For now though there's nothing else to say except this." he added.

Taking a deep breath is informed Jaden," Be careful of Satyr. He's got dirt on him."

"What?" shook Jaden.

Satyr? What did that mean? Bribes? A criminal record?

"Satyr has dirt on him. Sometime a few years ago Duel Academy did an internal background check with all they're employees. Satyr had an anonymous e-mail flagged about a half a million owed to some ... questionable people. More than anything we expected." elaborated his father.

"Maybe he's got a business in debt?" stammered Jaden recovering from the revelation.

"Maybe," noted his father before slipping out, "But Sheppard apparently didn't want to push the issue too much and didn't care. Whatever the reasons Satyr is still at the academy and I didn't care about it because it didn't affect his work performance. The bank account statement showed nothing amiss."

Nothing you want to fight for or against.

Jaden asked, "So what are you saying?"

"Be careful," Jaden's father reminded then in a gentler tone he asked, "Now how have you been?"

Jaden took that as a cue to just talk and he did. He always chose his words carefully with everyone except his family.

He told him about his time in solitary confinement. Jaden told him about the ante duel with Chazz the day before the fight. he even told him about how he felt about all the teachers here.

"It's been what ... a week and things have been nothing if eventful hasn't it," noted his father.

Jaden just chuckled nervously at that, "Yes. Yes it has. I have to go now dad. I promise to call everyday if I can."

"You better. No more surprises on your end." clipped the man then hung up the phone.

All Jaden could do was stare at it in silence glumly.

XXX

The cool air on the balcony helped contrast with the broken radiator lying on the rooftop. How had it gotten there anyways? Not that mattered. The trio were just playing another match.

"So far so good," jolted Bastion on his pad then he signalled, "Start!"

"You go first this time," confessed Jaden.

Dimitri just nodded as he drew his cards.

Dimitri started out, "I play Bazoo the Soul Eater. Then I play one card face down and attach Malevolent Nuzzler to it."

Bazoo's AP: 1600 - 2300

"Well in response I play two cards face down and one card in defense mode," smirked Jaden, "It's your move."

"In that case I play one card face down in defense mode. Now Bazoo attack that face down monster," ordered Dimitri.

"You should be careful about what cards I played. After all there's nothing better than a counter," Jaden chuckled then shouted, "You activated my trap card! Mirror Force!"

"No! Bazoo!," called out Dimitri then added, "Because of Malevolent Nuzzler's effect I can pay 500 life-points to bring it back to the top of my deck."

"Find a way to get more life points," jotted down Bastion.

Dimitri LP: 4000 - 3500

Dimitri then acknowledged, "I end my turn."

Jaden crossed, "Then I sacrifice my face-down monster to summon Twin-Headed Beast. Now attack that face down monster!"

"The irony isn't lost on me," sarcastically stated Dimitri, "I activate my trap card Negate Attack!"

"Ouch," winced Jaden, "Well that's too bad I guess. Your move."

"Thank you," huffed Dimitri as sweat glistened across his cards.

 _Okay first things first. This deck is tremendous but only if I use it right. One wrong move and it's over for me._

"I play Malevolent Nuzzler once again and ..."

Jaden interrupted his friend, "Dimitri have you forgotten what Malevolent's Nuzzler's effect is again?"

"It allows you to equip to a monster on the field," elaborated Bastion taking his eyes off the pad.

It slowly dawned onto Dimitri what his friends were trying to say, "But not to a face-down monster. Oh no."

"Yes," explained Jaden, "In this case you've just made my Twin-Headed Beast even more powerful Dimitri."

Twin Headed Beast AP: 1700 - 2400

"That's almost as strong as your Jinzo," stammered Dimitri.

His opponent nodded, "Every card in my deck has purpose in your deck. The cards you choose are those that truly matter. Twin-Headed Beast is in my deck to clear out fields quickly for my other stronger monsters to do direct damage. However since you've empowered it ..."

'That's makes it me even more screwed," commutated Dimitri, "This deck ..."

"Is one of the most powerful formats we came together with due to our limited constraints," reminded Jaden to Dimitri, "There's no doubt that the deck you're using can wipe the floor with me any day."

"But I have to use it properly," chimed in Dimitri.

Bastion transmitted, "That's why we're practicing aren't we? Now let's finish test duel nine for the day. What's the time?"

"We're doing well so far," replied Jaden, "But we need to analyse our cards again."

"In that case," sniffled Dimitri, "I flip my Desert Protector."

"Good news," commemorated Jaden, "You're making progress."

 _"_ But?" asked Dmitri.

"Bad news," blighted Bastion ,"You're forgetting one of the most basic rules of Duel monsters."

"Now Twin Headed Beast," demanded Jaden, "Destroy both the monsters on the field!"

The fire centaur creation three two balls of flames at the two monsters on Dimitri's side of the field.

Dimitri's LP: 3500 - 1900

"Note: Jaden made one mistake as well," jotted down Bastion on his clipboard.

"It wasn't a mistake," echoed Jaden , "What I'm doing is always playing a little above Dimitri's level. If I went all out on Dimitri this duel would already be over."

Then he showed one of the cards in his hand; Armored Dragon.

"But that's not the point of this duel," concurred Bastion, "We're here to make sure that each of us can take on those three."

Jaden's quote echoed through Dimitri's mind once more.

 _Going all out on each other is completely counterproductive since that's just swarming and destroying. We have to re-program our thoughts when we're guessing out opponents._

"However," jabbed Jaden, "Since my Battle Phase has ended and you do know the card in my hand I think that I should play it. Come on out Armoured Dragon!"

"Okay," scowled Dimitri, "Now how am I suppose to beat that?"

"Think," commented Bastion.

Jaden joked "The heart of the cards Dimitri. Have faith in your deck and your deck will have faith in you."

"Okay I'll try that, " acknowledged Dimitri.

 _Let's do this._

Then he placed his hand onto the his deck and slowly drew out his card - Maha Vailo. Dam it there was no way to win this. Especially with just Short Circuit in his hand. Dimitri wanted to surrender. He wanted it just end.

 _But if I do that all this has been for nothing. I can't throw this match._

"I play Maha Vailo," roared Dimitri as he summoned the monster to his side of the field, "Now hit me you bastard!"

There was nothing else to be said. Nothing left either. The past of was the past. He saw the echoes of a duel that could have been. The choice he made. The turns he played. But it was over now.

"Congratulations," conceded his friend, "It's very fitting of you to end this duel like this. Standing on your feet."

Then Jaden drew a card from his deck.

"But we all have to lose someday," he darkly disclosed, "I play Blazing Impachi in attack mode! Now attack Maha Vailo!"

Dimitri LP: 1900 - 1600

Shooting his hand forward Jaden ordered ,"Now Twin-Headed Beast fire meteorite blast!"

The creation screeched to the sky as it let loss a blazing inferno towards Dimitri blinding him for a second.

Dimitri LP: 1600 - 0

"Better than most of the duels so far," ticked off Bastion on his pad, "But it's not as up to par as we want it too."

Jaden encouraged the fallen Dimitri, "We're getting there. I promise you that. We will get there."

That just got a small nod from Dimitri as he switched with Bastion.

XXX

The room Chazz, Raizou and Taiyou had found themselves in was top class to say the least. Since they were still injured but also preparing their deck, it had been requested that they three of them share their time together as much as possible. Outside of sleeping Taiyou and Raizou spent every possible waking moment with Chazz customizing their decks.

"So how have any of you been?" sighed Chazz as he looked at his new face in front of him. The lack of hair and loss of one eye would profoundly changed his appearance. That wasn't if the many stitches over his face didn't either.

It was like staring at someone else's face. He blinked and only saw one eye move. That alone made him growl.

"Not good," grunted Taiyou at the bandages covering his face.

"Well you got off lucky," harked Raizou at the sling that was in the place of his left shoulder, "I'm stuck in this sling until my duel starts and even then I'll be duelling with the wrong arm."

"Well you just have to take one look at me and see that my face needs to be completely reconstructed later," hissed Chazz flipping the metal tray to his left, "That Ra Yellow jerk is going to pay for what he did to me."

The door opened at that sentence bringing in a new person.

"Oh they all are," smirked a black cloaked figure striding into the hospital room.

"Who are you?" chuffed Taiyou balling his hand into fists. He glanced at Raizou hoping he would press the panic button.

"Not need," reassured the man, "I'm but a friend."

"Once again who are you?" asked Chazz about to press his panic button and call the nurse if he had to.

"Oh. Don't recognize me," chuckled the dark cloaked man as his pulled his hat back revealing ...

"Crowler!" Raizou shouted.

Taiyou asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I think you looked better without the hat and mask," snarked Chazz.

That got a tish from Crowler who just turned to look at the three of them, as if sizing them up.

"Really that's what you're going to say to the man who will help you beat those Ras?" smirked Crowler.

"And how would you do that," asked Raizou.

"With these," he bragged as Crowler opened his cloak revealing dozens of new cards that ...

"Those are -"

"The rare cards," elaborated Crowler, "I took them all just for your specialty match against those three. Dig in. Because like you I want those three gone."

Chazz grinned maliciously at the situation in front of him. Taiyou chuckled and Raizou cracked his neck.

"Oh now we're talking," laughed Chazz as he slowly pilfered through the cards given to him.

XXX

The smell of burnt coffee and fresh water filled the air of Chancellor Sheppard's office. It helped against the tension that cut through the room.

"I know what you're here for and I just want you to know that I don't care," brushed off Sheppard's as he began making a list.

Sartyr just glowered at his boss a little before speaking up softly, "But Chancellor it goes against duelling conduct and the match which we have arranged."

"Not an issue," ticked Sheppard as he looked at the list. He had felt a little jetlagged from the return trip to duel academy and was in no mood for Sartyr glory boys or complaints.

"If they're as good as you say they are then they'll get off fine," simply shrugged Sheppard, "IT's not something I'm firing Crowler for, especially because I think the reward is a bit too lenient for the boys themselves."

"That's if they win," pointed out Sartyr, "And you don't seem care for the fact that Crowler is stacking the deck, quite literally in this case, against their favour."

"Sartyr," intoned Sheppard twirling his chair away from the Dorm leader," Don't make this a battle you can't win. Just don't."

Then he brought _THAT up._

"Especially because I still have that e-mail you received," blackmailed Shepaprd," IT's locked up of course. No one is getting access to it unless they somehow managed to bypass all of Duel Academy's cyber security. But push this too far and you'll never be a classroom teacher in even a primary school ever again."

"I see that I'm being blackmailed," hissed Sartyr stating the obvious, "Is there anything you will actually do."

"Well I would love to do a lot of stuff just like you would. Kiss Ms. Dorothy, hang out at my duelling dojo, drink some tea with my staff members. Not deal with punks who may or may not care about the rules and regulations of this match." retorted Shepard.

Satyr just stiffened a little before nodding curtly Sheppard. Sheppard waved him off.

"I seem I am dismissed," he ended.

"Not at all in any way. You dismissed yourself.," tapped Sheppard as Satyr walked towards the door. Right as he was at the doorway Sheppard spoke up once again.

"Just so you know Satyr, Crowler didn't take every rare card. There is still a pack left. Take it for your students if you want," he taunted

"Just don't make this situation more messy than it actually is." Laminated Satyr repeating Sheppard's message. Then he walked out.

XXX

"Is there anything else that we should know?" Glimmered Bastion as he glanced through his deck.

"No. I just came here because I felt that all three of you should know the full situation," closed Sartyr.

"I can't believe the Chancellor isn't going to do a thing," punched out Dimitri as he threw the list of papers on his desk to the floor.

Jaden and Bastion had been talking with their friend about using an equip deck right before Satyr had arrived. The new circumstances had forced the boys to revaluate their situation.

State just calmly explained," Sheppard doesn't feel that Crowler conduct is a cause for dismissal. Even if you three were not about to take part in a punishment game it's unorthodox for the Chancellor to come do the side of a student in any student teacher dispute. That's not mentioning the fact that Crowler, unprofessional he has acted today, is still an excellent teacher."

Jaden just reminded Satyr, "But I just beat in the entrance exam. Even when he used his own deck."

"Be that as it may," corralled Bastion, "Sheppard isn't going to punish Crowler for any of this. Where do we go from here?"

"I recommend talking to the people who work at the card shop," jibbed Satyr ,"They should have a list of whatever card they have brought in today. Other than that good luck."

Then Satyr walked out. The void of information engulfed the three of them just as much as his lack of care.

Right after Satyr left Dimitri turned to Jaden complaining, "Bit of an ass."

"But he's on our side," defended Bastion.

"Doesn't matter," shrugged Jaden, "The warnings just enough. I'll go check out what's the list at the card shop. You two keep conducting your duels."

"Call us if something comes up", replied Bastion as he turned back to Dimitri.

With their new knowledge Bastion and Dimitri started rearranging their decks.

XXX

The Gameshop could certainly use a little cleaning but otherwise it seemed quite standard. The receptionist was nice and everything was very well organized. Not to mention to bright lights that provided a contrast with the dark evening sky.

"Hello," greeted Jaden as he walked into the game shop. "I would like to see the list of all the cards which was brought to the island today."

"Um … I'm not sure if I can do that sir," straightened the girl at the reception.

That was factually untrue. You could see a list. The problem was no one generally asked to do so and Duel Academy policy was to make it as difficult as possible to get.

"I think you can. May I please speak to your manager?"Jaden demanded. Gosh he was sounding like a jerk now. This wasn't something he had expected to happen or how he had believed he would behave.

 _This mess with Chazz is bringing up the worst out of me isn't it? It's almost as bad as the time those jerks stole my Hero Cards._

"Okay sir," sighed the girl probably hoping he'd go away after that, "I'll just be a minute."

Seeing that he was getting somewhere Jaden pulled out his personal communicator. Phones and other personal equipment as such were banned on the island since students had a habit of goofing or cheat with their phones in between duels. Communicators were monitored but it wasn't very intrusive.

He had looked into the monitoring software of duel academy. For the most part it was only just making sure who called who. Nothing more intrusive. A warrant from a head dorm teacher or higher was required for something more. Ironically that made duel academy one of the least monitored places in the world.

Faintly Jaden could hear the girl calling out to her manager.

"No." a woman's voice insisted. It sounded vaguely familiar to Jaden.

"You know we can't say that!" replied the girl to her manager

"No!" once again she insisted.

While his phone rang he saw the shadowed figures verbally fight a bit before the shorter one calmed down. At least that's what the lighting orientation showed.

"Yo Dimitri it's Jaden here," Jaden called, "I'm getting somewhere with the card shop. Would you mind grabbing Bastion and coming here to check it out. We might get a list of everything which we may need."

The affirmative response was all he needed. Just in time as well. Right then Jaden noticed Ms. Dorothy walking into the room.

"Yes I heard you wanted to speak to me," queried Dorothy. It took nearly a second for her to realize who she was talking to though.

"Jaden!" she cried out, "It's you!"

"I see you've managed to final get on to the island," teased Jaden, "Must have use your good looks on that security guard. I knew you were good looking but I didn't think you were good looking enough to confute other women Ms. Dorothy."

It was always good to start with a compliment right before he asked for something.

"Flattery will get you everywhere Jaden," giggled Ms. Dorothy, "That call from Sartyr was more than enough for the guards to let me in."

"I see," commented Jaden, "I hope it didn't cause too much trouble."

It was actually but it was polite to ask.

"Mmhm. Anyways I was told you wanted to see the cards listed from today's register," she reminded as she typed on her computer, "I'll get that out in a few minutes."

Then she pushed a very small stack of cards to Jaden.

"And for being so helpful for me today I've decided to give you these three cards," she pushed.

"Jaden!" shouted Bastion as he strode in with Dimitri at his heels, "We came as soon as we could. Did you get the list?"

"I got something more," spread Jaden before his smile turned to a frown, "Ms. Dorothy why are you doing this for us? I mean you can get into a lot of trouble for this?"

At those questions the old woman looked at her shoes.

"When I heard what had happened with the three hospitalized Obelisks I thought the three of you were a trio of delinquents. Kids who came to fight not duel here. I myself am not much of a duellist," admitted Ms. Dorothy ,"But you came to help me today Jaden. It was very touching. Then Crowler took almost all the rare cards from this week's shipment."

"I just couldn't let it stand," puttered the woman, "There's one trap, one spell and one monster card in that stack. It's more than I ever would I have believed but Crowler's getting away with worse. Why can't I?"

"Ms Dorothy," murmured Bastion as he got a glimpse at the cards in Jaden's hand.

"Thank you."

At that the three boys bowed to her.

XXX

"Too much blood. Too much death in this building," commented the slender man, his cloak billowing in the wind.

The police tape and the ambulance sirens littered the area with sound and light.

"It's a bit of a mess," lamented the woman to his left, "But it's not unexpected. People have trouble controlling they're psychotic tendencies after the parasite screwed with their mind."

"And this is an early stage of its workings," he elaborated, "Still we don't nearly have enough resources to take on rich boy or that academy. We need more of everything."

"But I do," halted a shadowy figure behind the two, eyes glowing red in the darkness.

"Who are you?" the woman questioned.

The tall figure just ruthless crushed a pebble beneath his boot, "The real answer is who do I represent. Call us the Seven Stars. Call us the Shadow Riders. But we have what you need."

The cloaked man just raised his hoodie, showing his face for the first time. It was a very young face with brown eyes and brown hair. An ordinary face if one decided to ignore the missing nose and the severe burn marks that dotted his head. It was a beastly sight.

"That's what I want know as well," acknowledge the boy, "But if you have come to make a deal against who I think you have then I'm listening."

"You want to kill Jaden," acknowledged the tall red-eyed person," I want the sacred beasts. I have the resources, you have the knowledge about how to make Jaden tick."

The woman screeched back at him," You want us to be the bait don't you?"

"You're street bangers," snorted Night-shroud, "You're expendable. But you have the one quality that I need."

"We bring out the worst in our opposition," admitted the burnt man, "I have the man power and the powers of the shadows at my grasp. What can you offer then?"

"Equipment," elaborated the tall man right before pulling out something from his breast pocket.

"And these two sets of items."

That got several raised eyebrows from the pair.

The woman just raised, "Is that the ..."

"Yes" was all he said.

For a few seconds there was nothing. It would have been easier to just steal the items but that would be a very short term solution to a long term problem.

Then he raised his hand in acceptance, "The Cabal of the Black Skull accepts. I look forward to working something out."

"Excellent," softly chuckled Night-shroud to the evening stars. All was going to plan.


	5. Duel 5

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 5**

In a large room three people stood over a table looking through various pages and notes they had gathered. One of them, the man with completely white eyes, occasional tapped a computer beside him.

"I'm calling this meeting for a reason," stated the slender man.

"Vect," queried the woman to slender man known as Vect, "Are you sure about this? It's all so soon."

"We know," grunted Cythrax clicking the keyboard once agai, "But this is the best shot we have and especially with what the Shadow Riders are providing with us."

However Vect still had a murderous expression on his face.

"It's still not enough," acknowledged Vect, "However Lillith, there are still several essential components which I am getting."

"We need some scouting though," pointed out Cythrax.

"That's what Titan and his fellows are for," answered Vect, "At the moment I am content to actually gather power and the tools necessary. That two-bit shadow duellist would certainly provide everything we need."

"Are we still attacking on schedule? The Cabal members are getting a little impatient and want to see some action," tutted Lillith as she examined the claws in front of her. Red and green liquid oozed from them.

"Revenge. They want revenge," hissed Vect, "Don't pretend that they care about action. We're all going to be making our assault on schedule."

Lillith chuckled darkly at that statement, "Then Duel Academy falls. I look forward to the demise of that brat."

They all would. They all certainly

"I'll let them know," grinned Cythrax turn to walk towards corridor.

XXX

"So we've each given and taken the appropriate cards that we need haven't we?" reiterated Taiyou as he looked as his deck before putting it on the table in front of him.

Eight other decks were on the table; two of which were in front of Chazz and Raizou. The other six were placed at the edge of the table with notes on them.

"Pretty much. It's a life shaving match," repeated Raizou, "That's why I'm using my life-saver deck."

"Be careful though," warned Chazz, "If there's anything those Ra's have been doing it's been taking cue from Jaden and we all know what's his deck shows us so far."

"And so far not," twittered Raizou, "I've been hearing a lot of his deliveries and what's going on in the Ra dorm."

"And you know this how?" asked Taiyou.

"I have a guy in the dorm," shrugged Raizou.

"Okay. Not that we have anything else to worry about," grunted Chazz, "They're not allowed to duel with cards they bought after a certain date."

Taiyou also tipped off, "Plus barter card isn't very well known for providing great cards. At the very most you can get some weak rare. Nothing too strong though."

"They've had over two week," trailed Raizou.

"Which is not nearly enough time," harked Chazz, "Besides if it's a life-shaver match. Teams sink or swim on a group basis."

"If you say so," sighed Taiyou.

But Chazz had already moved on to another phase.

"Just so you know if both of you lose I will forever hold it against you," reminded Chazz before blankly looking at the window, "But I will find a way to forgive you later."

"We won't let you down," acknowledged Raizou, "We'll make sure this end today."

"My dragon's can finally pound those nerds to the floor," nodded Taiyou pushing his glasses back.

For a moment the three of them just looked that the stack of cards in front of them. It was now or never. The moment

Chazz shuffled through his deck, "Ready?"

"Yes!" Raizou and Taiyou responded.

"Good." grinned Chazz as his walked down the hallway with his cloak billowing in the wind.

"Let's get our game on."

XXX

"Is your cards in place?" asked Bastion.

Jaden bent back, "As much as I can be. Beating Chazz will be a bit tricky, especially with the list we got from Ms. Dorothy."

"But not impossible," recollected Bastion as he shuffled his deck and drew two cards.

Then he placed them back in his deck.

"We've pulled off every stop we can," assured Dimitri seeing the frown on Jaden's face, "I'll volunteer first. It's only for the best."

"That's not a terrible idea, " disclosed Jaden closing his eyes, "But I feel like I should be the one that does it."

"No," backed Bastion, "Dimitri should go first. If the order is anything which we can expect then Dimitri's deck is the best fit for the situation."

"We all know you can beat Taiyou or Raizou easily Jaden," justified Dimitri, "But Chazz is a whole different ball game. Our research and resource pooling has been helpful but the odds are not my favour if I faced anyone else. Bastion could beat Chazz if he had to but this is a life shaving duel. No risks can be taken."

"You could beat Raizou. I know that! We've trained for this," shouted Jaden.

Dimitri just sadly shook his head, "No. I can't. I'm great with book work. I score well but I'm almost certain that I won't be able to beat Raizou."

Then his eyes shown with determination.

"But I can make him work with it."

Seeing his friend so fired up was now a normal sight for Jaden. But it was also a face that Jaden knew he had to trust.

"Okay," he whispered.

"Thank you."

Bastion looked through the cards sticky tacked to the walls, "Dimitri are you sure you want to use that deck? The Elemental Hero deck would be more than suffice."

"I've made my choice Bastion," finalized Dimitri, "Let's do this."

Jaden however couldn't help but feel a little worried.

 _Let's hope it doesn't come down to me using that card._

XXX

"I still think this is a bad idea," hissed Crowler to the Chancellor.

The staff meeting had been underway about possible avenues or ventures of how the match should be held. The format had already been decided. Now all that was left was discussing who and what could see the match in process.

There were several options that the staff had been arguing for and against. For the sheer number of people who could witness the duel or have access to the recording was the first problem and was giving Sheppard quite a headache.

Crowler had argued that this should remain an internal dispute in the duel academy database. Only certain faculty and those with higher clearance could access the duel's video in question.

Satyr had just went one step more transparent and simply said that all students should be allowed to watch the video if they should.

Someone though had proclaimed that it would be best if they aired the whole thing on a public database; anyone could see. Of course that immediately got shot down because if there was one thing about this whole situation it was the bad publicity angle. A secret on stays a secret if no one talks about it and plastering the entire duel online would have basically been a neon sign saying "Problems at Duel Academy".

So a semi-limited access feed and registry was agreed upon.

Then there was the viewing party in question and once again the faculty had agreed that the entire student body should be allowed to witness the duel. The premium duel arena was going to be packed soon.

Satyr knew that Crowler was trying to limit the amount of spectators for one primary reason; insurance. If Crowler decided to overturn the ruling, should the Obelisks lose, he could easily do so if there was a lack of witnesses and a small digital footprint. Or he'd pull up some other scheme.

It was the same trick he had once up with the Diggers. Of course that was relatively bloodless but Satyr knew Crowler's game. He had talked to the other members beforehand for this reason and while many weren't ecstatic about his countermeasures many did grudgingly agree with the principle.

So here was the process.

Sheppard snapped, "Well your just going to have to deal with it Crowler. The faculty seems to have a near universal consensus on the matter."

Banner spoke up, "Will we expect the guardians of the Ras in question to appear for this match. Should they lose they must be informed and the arrangements must be made."

"No really. We're trying to keep the whole thing as quiet as possible. If one of the parents decide to talk about it with their friends and this burns through they're social network," answered Ms. Fontaine, "Well Chinese whispers."

"That is correct. However I've had to inform the Princeton brothers about Chazz's medical condition since its permanent," elaborated Sheppard, "And I've talked to Seto Kaiba about this. He's also agrees with Ms. Fontaine's judgement. No one here talks about it. None of are liable and hopefully a month from now we can put everything about this dreadful incident behind us."

XXX

Kyrie and Alexis walked to the dining area. They'd looked for their friends in the connecting rooms but to no avail.

"If only Yuna was here. She always has a way to deal with these situations," sighed Kyrie, "Or at the very least control everyone."

"No kidding," admitted Alexis, "I had expected a match like this to happen eventually, especially after the late night duel with between those two hot-heads."

"You just didn't think it would get this violent and this chaotic so quickly," pointed out Kyrie, "That's expected. Chazz and Jaden seem to bring out the absolute worst of each other. Jaden isn't one to choose a battle he can't win."

"You seem to know him quite well," noticed Alexis.

Kyrie nodded, "I do but that's a story for another time."

"Hey Alexis! Hey Kyrie!" greeted Mindy as she walked up to the two, Jasmine trailing behind her.

"I told you they'd be here," admonished Jasmine.

Mindy argued, "Well excuse me if the signal strength and coordinates for land-marks on this island aren't really great."

"It's a mansion," reminded Jasmine ,"Everything has some kind of sign on it."

"Fine," huffed Mindy.

Seeing that she had won the brief debate Jasmine turned to Kyrie, "What do you think of the match? I can't believe the faculty is letting an open match occur between the six of them."

"It's an open match," reminded Mindy ,"That way anyone and everyone can witness or note any form of cheating. None of those stupid stunts where you can uses illegal cards or what not."

"Not to mention open cheating," added Jasmine, "Say if someone accused their opponent of sabotaging their deck the very least that would have to be done is an investigation into the matter."

"It's a good idea," agreed Alexis ,"Nothing else that can be done."

"Still," observed Kyrie, "I wouldn't go as to say it's a very fair one."

XXX

"Wow this place is packed," observed Syrus.

Brier turned to his classmate at his observation, "Well of course it is. Classes have been cancelled for half a day for this very reason. For Ras and Obelisks its basically going to either be one of the most intense matches of the semester of something that will leave the Ras disappointed."

"So that's why your here," commented a tall boy in tennis clothes.

"Your Harrington," recognized Syrus.

Harrington nodded, "That's right. I'm here because every single upper class obelisk is wondering if those Ra classmates of yours have what it takes to beat Chazz and his friends down there. He's not considered the best first year student there is for a reason."

"We'll see about that," snorted Brier, "For all we know that's all talk. Your entrance score doesn't matter so much as what your end of year score is."

"Harrington's right," backed Syrus ,"I've heard quite a lot of things from my brother about Chazz and while most of it isn't good, he says quite a bit about Chazz's duelling skills."

"Who is your brother by the way?' asked Brier.

Syrus scrunched up his face in shame.

Harrington seeing the look on Syrus's face decided to turn the conversation around, "That doesn't matter. It's false equivalency. Yes Chazz is a jerk but Jaden's a violent thug."

"You're right," accepted Brier ,"But my point about the Ras and Obelisks looking forward to this match still stands. Don't just look at how many people have turned up, look at how the they've seated themselves."

Harrington looked around the stadium. It was a brightly coloured canvas of yellow, blue and red students dotted all over the place whether it be in groups of two or four but nothing more. The teachers were in their own private box watching from the stands, while Sheppard was silently standing in the middle of the stadium.

Then his eyes widened.

"Your right," conceded Harrington.

"You see what I mean," enforced Brier.

"What?" asked Syrus turning his head to the student body in the stadium.

"What he means is," explained Harrington slowly, "Is that the student body is not excited about this duel that they haven't bothered to actually self-segregated themselves. Just look at us."

"Just look at us," elaborated Brier ,"We have Slifer Red, a Ra Yellow and an upper class Obelisk Blue. I can tell that both of you were very excited about this match. I know I am because I'm pissed at the way the Obelisks tend to get away with treating their victims."

"Not all of us are like that," defended Harrington.

Brier huffed back ,"But you let your fellows get away with it and say nothing. Not that it matters. I'm here to support my fellow Dorm members and if means watching them mop the floor against Chazz and his ilk, all the better."

"Well aren't you partisan dorm member," mulled Syrus ,"I don't have that many bad experiences with Obelisks like you have had Brier but Jaden has been a nice guy to me all around in class. Sure I've only interacted with him twice and that was when he was told to help me ..."

"But he did it without smacking you down or tormenting you," finished Brier.

"I guess," shrugged Syrus ,"I can't make a good judge of his character other the rumors and I don't think anyone of us know the whole story about this whole match up."

"Didn't you read the official report?" asked Harrington.

Brier chuckled at that, "Yeah. And only an idiot reads the official report. I'll ask Dimitri about what it when he returns to the study group at our Dorm. He said he'd come back to the regular meetings after this whole business is behind him."

"Your friend seems confident he might win," observed Harrington, "But he'll need it."

XXX

Sheppard tapped something on his collar causing a slight ring to echo through the air which got the students attention. It took two rings for everything to quiet down though. Once he was sure he had everyone's attention Sheppard began the announcement.

"We are here to begin the most clear and honoured traditions of Duel Academy. The punishment duel. This format of this duel will be three one on one matches between the two groups of duellists. The trio of duels will not be based on how many wins the team gets out of three matches but the collective life-points they have remaining after each match has concluded. Altogether this means that it is very possible for a team to win if even one of their number has enough life points left to overcome the end sum of their two losses."

"Now this duel has commenced for situations which you have all known and been provided with. It shall determine whether or not the group goes home or stays. Now to welcome the teams."

"From the corner of there is three members of the Obelisk Blue dorms."

A round of applause and cheers smattered the air as Chazz, Taiyou and Raizou walked out.

"And from the other corner are the three perpretators from Ra Yellow."

Another round of applause and cheers greeted Jaden, Bastion and Dimitri as they made their own appearance.

"Now this duel shall be monitored and recorded for future students to watch and learn from. Should I find any instance of cheating it shall be immediate expulsion for the guilty parties. Are you ready for your matches?"

"Yes," all six boys shouted.

"Good," nodded Sheppard, "The Obelisks shall go first in all three duels. Ras shall pick who they wish to begin each duel with."

Jaden couldn't help but mentally frown a bit at all the disadvantages Sheppard gave them. By forcing them to go first in all the duels Sheppard basically allowed the Obelisks to easily manage and play their cards in whatever manner. Bottomless trap hole would be a useless counter in such a situation. Not only that but by forcing them to choose themselves, the trio would be forced to duel whoever the Obelisks liked.

Knowing Chazz's ego the Draco Malfoy expy would duel him but that left Taiyou and Raizou out on the field. Altogether it made the playing field a bit more stacked against them while being almost certainly legal. But that's what they had come for.

"I will duel first," stepped Dimitri.

The Obelisks turned to their fellows for a moment, communicating non-verbally. Then Raizou stepped forward.

"Then your dueling me."

"Very well," accepted Sheppard, "Once I get up onto the box a bell will ring starting the duel. Get to your own seats."

XXX

It took a few minutes for Sheppard to ring the signal and for their team-mates to find spots. Now it was on. Dimitri and Raizou stared at one another as they shuffled their decks.

Raizou started," I play four face down cards and one card in set defense mode."

Dimitri responded, "Then I play Gren Maiju and then equip it with Mage Power. Mage Power allows for the equipped monster to gain five hundred attack points for every spell or trap card on my side of the field. So to boost him up I set two cards face down."

Gren Maiju AP: 0 - 1500

Raizou warned, "Don't think your Gren Maiju will help you at all. I activate my trap card Begone Knave. It's effect is that every time a monster does battle damage to, it's sent back to its user's hand."

For a moment Dimitri just stared at the card in question before commanding his monster," Now attack Gren Maiju. Destroy that face down card."

Raizou chuckled, "Well good luck with that because I play Unhappy Maiden! Her effect is that when she is destroyed in battle the battle phase effectively ends."

"My move," he bragged drawing one card.

Dimitri questioned," What's the point of such an effect then if there is only one card on my side of the field? It's basically useless."

Raizou shouted back, "Shut up! Because now I summon Bowganian. To also make sure you don't end up destroying him before I can drain away your life points I play Nightmare's Steelcage."

Dimitri could only scowl at the one eyed ball, "With that card on the field you'll take out 600 of my lifepoints each turn."

Raizou chuckled, "Brings you down to 2800 easily doesn't it?"

Then he activated another card.

"Now for some added insurance I play Messenger of Peace. This prevents monsters with 1500 or more attack points from making an attack. Of course I lose 100 life points a turn but that's a small cost to play."

XXX

The match wasn't looking good. Jaden could only frown slightly, "It's just like the stimulations."

"Yes," agreed Bastion by his side, "But Dimitri was prepared for this. We trained non-stop for over two weeks."

 _Not that it matters now._

"I can acknowledge that," conceded Jaden, "The problem is Dimitri's deck. There are several weaknesses and points of interest you want to avoid when fighting someone like Raizou. Take the Messenger of Peace and Nightmare Steelcage. Raizou knows that Dimitri has a lot of Spell Removal cards so he played that thing."

"Harpie's feather duster being the most powerful I believe," noted Bastion, "You were saying the problems."

"Yes. The weaknesses with Dimitri's deck. With Dimitri's deck you have a whole group of weak monsters that can gain additional attack points for every equip card. The problem is using those spell cards efficiently. Dimitri's new deck relies almost solely on those spell cards. If he loses them he's in a lot of trouble. There's also a second key weakness but let's hope it doesn't come into play," exposed Jaden.

That raised an eyebrow from Bastion.

"There's also a third weakness," added Bastion reminding Jaden of their tests," However that's not important. His deck has a lot of great sources but ..."

"Done well Dimitri's deck is far stronger than mine could ever be," smiled Jaden reminiscently before returning to a frown, "But used badly and we've seen the test matches. Dimitri could have used some of my old Elemental Hero cards but that was all up to him."

"I'm surprised you haven't used those cards," pointed out Bastion ,"It's a very solid deck."

"I have my reasons," shut down Jaden, "But using that deck against Raizou was just begging for trouble. If this was a best out of three match up that would have been a great deck to use. The Elemental Heroes dominate constantly."

 _But not exceptionally._

"But this is a life-shaver match," replied Bastion sighing, "The majority of tests we did against Raizou's deck showed close wins and strong losses. Plenty of wins mind you but that's not we're after. The average life-points remaining works better with the Equip deck. We're ready for this."

Bastion seemed more like he was trying to say the last sentence to himself than to Jaden.

"There's one thing you got wrong Bastion. We're prepared. Not ready," clicked Jaden, "But being prepared and being ready are two completely different things."

XXX

Dimitri called out looking at his card, "I play one more card face down and end my turn. Since there are four cards on the field Mage Power's special ability is only amplified."

 _Not that it helps but this is a lockdown._

Raizou snidely retorted back, "Since this is my first turn I'm still playing Messenger of Peace I lose 100 life-points."

Raizou's LP: 4000 - 3900

"However," he shot back as his life points took a hit, "That's a far cry from your loses. I activate Bowganian's special effect. Now you lose 600 lifepoints"

Dimitri's LP: 4000 - 3400

"Then I play my fourth face down card De-Spell and I choose the second card to the left," he directed.

"Dam it," shouted Dimitri as he forced himself to show the card that Raizou had chosen.

Negate Attack.

"So you have Negate attack on the field," observed Raizou, "Good to know. I didn't destroy your Mage Power because I don't like having unknowns on my field. And if you're like me you have at least few copies of that thing in your deck."

XXX

Up in the stands was a different matter. Whereas the two boys were duelling for what they believed in, everyone else was cheering the grind fest on. Almost everyone except for a few.

"I think that was a shot at Chazz," smirked Alexis.

"Really?" tutted Kyrie never taking her eyes off the arena, "I wasn't there when Jaden duelled Mr. Chazz it up but it must have been a sight to see."

Alexis laughed, "Oh yes it was. Just looking at all the stupid moves Chazz made still makes me laugh."

"Really?" smirked Kyrie, "How stupid? He probably got a bit too cocky but that's no excuse."

"I will tell you later. But Raizou is playing cautiously," returned Alexis as he stared at Bowganian.

Kyrie sighed, "He can afford to be cautious. Raizou's deck will eat up Dimitri's life-points turn by turn and Dimitri won't be able to do a thing."

"You seem to have given up already," implied Alexis crossing her hands, "Why watch then?"

Kyrie closed her eyes at her friend's reply before a little smile crossed her face, "I just want to see the look on Chazz's face when he loses."

XXX

"Turns out I might still win this after-all," he smirked before activating the card he just drew, "I play Mystical Space Typhoon. Since your Steelcage has a limit to how long it can affect me I'll save you the trouble and destroy your spell card Messenger of Peace."

The card shattered to pieces, sparkling in the light. Mystical Space Typhoon was a boring card but it was very useful.

Raizou just drew one card before roaring, "You'll pay for that you Ra Reject! Because now you're going to really wish you had made some better life choices. I activate Bowganian's special effect. Now you lose 600 lifepoints."

Dimitri LP: 3400 - 2800

Dimitri growled in pain as the spear stabbed him.

"But that's not all," taunted Raizou as he showed his card, "I play Ring of Destruction. Since I know that my Bowganian stands now chance against your empowered Gren Maiju Da Eiza I'll sacrifice it. Per Ring of Destruction's effect we both lose 1000 lifepoints."

Dimitri's LP: 2800- 1800

Raizou's LP: 3900 - 2900

"But that's not all. I finish my turn by playing one card face down in defense mode. It you're move you Ra Reject," he jeered, "Now hit me with your best shot."

Dimitri looked at his deck then slowly drew the card. One of many but more than satisfactory.

"I think I will, " he answered, "I simply play one-card face down and have my Gren Maiju attack that face-down monster."

"Not so fast," hissed Raizou, "Because I play my monster's special ability. Let me show you the card so that you can bask in it. I will give you a big hint. It's a germ and it's giant."

"Is it Giant Germ," drily replied Dimitri.

There was a pause as the answer sunk in.

Dimitri then shouted, "AH! It's a Giant GERM!"

Dimitri's LP: 1800 - 1300

"That's right," crackled Raizou ,"Now I also play Giant Germ's other special effect. I bring back my other Giant Germ from my deck. Go ahead. Attack it later. You'll lose this match soon either way."

XXX

"That's bad, " cursed Jaden.

If Raizou had two more of those then it's be a mountain to climb.

"More than bad," balled out Bastion ,"Raizou has at least one more of those things in his deck. It'd be suicide to attack him for now."

"Maybe Dimitri could get a tie if Raizou's life-points were low enough but for now it's a chicken game," hissed Jaden. One which Raizou was almost certainly good at.

 _We trained for this._

XXX

Then Dimitri laughed out. His face turned from worried to escatic.

"What's so funny?" asked Raizou.

"Well I was hoping you'd say that," he answered, "While Giant Germ wasn't what I wanted to be down there it's still what I need. I play my Trap Card!"

"No!" howled Raizou as he saw it.

Dimitri then proclaimed the last two words "Sixth Sense"

XXX

Ms. Dorothy looked onward with surprise ,"That's the card I gave Dimitri."

XXX

"Oh," smiled Mindy, "Then this duel is over."

The entire arena had turned into a holographic storm. Wind blew, lighting crackled in the background and Dimitri looked more powerful than ever.

"Not really but if Dimitri has Monster Reborn in his hand," replied Jasmine,"Then it certainly is. If he calls it right then he gets a boat load of new cards in his hand. If he calls it wrong and he has Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice or the like ... yes it is."

XXX

"I promised myself that I wouldn't be the load of the three," proclaimed Dimitri, "Now let me show you all the ability I have."

"No!"

"I choose two numbers between one and six," explained Dimitri, "If I call it right I gain those cards in my hand and I choose five and six."

XXX

"Uh oh," whispered Chazz as he looked at the arena as the virtual dice rolled to the floor.

Bounce.

Bounce.

Bounce.

Six.

XXX

"Now I draw six cards!" Dimitri roared then milled through the cards he received, "It seems that the tables have turned where they shall stay."

"Now let's reiterate the situation in front of me right now," reminded Dimitri, "I have four cards face down in front of me. You have Begone Knave on your side and Giant Germ in attack mode."

Raizou just relished, "That's a great card you just played you Ra Reject. Too bad I can just stop whatever your about to do by finishing my turn."

"And what is that?" questioned Dimitri.

"By putting my Giant Germ in defence mode," touched Raizou ,"Then I play Dark Door! This card makes sure the two of us can only use only attack with one monster during each of our battle phases."

Dimitri balled his fists at that action, "We'll soon see about that."

Pilfering through his cards Dimitri let out, "I play my Second Mage power and equip it to my Gren Maiju. Since there are now five spell or trap cards on my side his attack increases even more exponentially."

Gren Maiju AP: 2000 - 5000

XXX

"It seems that Dimitri has just forced Raizou to play to his game," noticed Bastion.

Jaden however sealed his lips, "No. This match is already over. One attack and it's over."

"Jaden?" raised Bastion wondering what his friend was seeing.

"Just watch," cautioned Jaden, "It's something I warned Dimitri of right before he played his cards."

Bastion followed Jaden's stare before gasping.

The back row was completely full.

XXX

Raizou just added, "I play another card face-down. I end my turn."

Dimitri took that into consideration as he drew his card.

"In that case," he replied, "I'll play The Calculator in attack mode. This monsters special ability is that it gains attack points relative the number of levels to all face up monsters on my side of the field."

The Calculator LP: 0 - 1500

"But that's not the issue I'm afraid of," he reminded, "I want to take out that Giant Germ but I can't do it through battle. So I'll just play one of my face downs - Torrential Tribute."

"Wait!" called out Raizou in shock,"You're going to sacrifice all those monsters jus to have an attack against me? Your dumber than I thought."

"Maybe," ruled Dimitri in a pragmatic tone, "Maybe not. Maybe you should go fuck yourself Raizou."

The crowd of students ooed at that.

XXX

Kyrie giggled at that, "He totally walked into that."

XXX

Up in the stands Crowler had to be held back from jumping into the duel arena by Banner. The spectacle man could only sigh at the antics of his colleagues and students.

"He can't say that!" shouted Crowler, "This is suppose to a card game! I demand a penalty! I demand!"

"Crowler," warned Sheppard causing him to freeze, "As long as they are following rules of Duel Monsters I don't care."

XXX

"Okay," chuckled Chazz, "The kid's got guts. But I'll take more than that and some curse words to take down Raizou.

XXX

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself you pointy haired freak," reminded Dimitri ,"It's your move."

"Fine. In that case I'll skip my turn," drawled Raizou as he looked at the card in his hand.

"Okay. Turns out the posses really likes following the leader," sarcastically replied Dimitri, "Who knew?"

"I play Four Starred ladybug of Doom in attack mode," activated Dimitri, "And since I really do want to ruin your day Raizou I'll play another equip card on her. It's called Malevolent Nuzzler."

Four Starred Ladybug AP: 800 - 1500

XXX

"I'm sensing a pattern here," whispered Taiyou under his breath as he looked at what was probably the fourth equip card Dimitri had played. Probably. Possibly not.

XXX

"Now attack my ladybug!" ordered Dimitri, "Demolish his life-points."

The enlarged beetle flew towards Raizou and took a holographic bite out of him.

Raizou's LP: 2900 - 1400

"You activated my trap card's special effect," reminded Raizou.

Dimitri just yipped in monotone, "Yeah I know. Ladybug returns to my hand. Nuzzler goes to the graveyard. It's your move Raizou."

The way he said it pissed Raizou off though. How could be sure unless.

 _Oh no! He's got more stuff in his hand. One more move and I'm dead._

Raizou grunted, "In that case I play Stumbling. Now all monsters normal, flipped or special summoned are forced into defence mode."

 _Jaden warned me about this card. Raizou only plays this when he's about to destroy me or getting desperate._

"In that case," returned Dimitri, "I play Scapegoat."

XXX

Mindy and Jasmine just squeed at the cute sheep tokens Dimitri played. It was one of Alexis's cards but that didn't change the fact that they were so fluffy.

XXX

"Of course they're really pathetic without some spice in them," Dimitri noted, "Which is why I play United We Stand. This card allows for the equip monster to gain 800 attack points for every face up monster on my side of the field."

Dimitri then pointed to the orange sheep token, "And that's what I choose."

Orange Sheep AP: 0 - 3200

"Of course I'm always going play another card face down in defense mode," ended Dimitri.

"Alright then," Raizou sweated. This duel wasn't looking good. Next turn Dimitri was certainly going to use that Scrapegoat to destroy his lifepoints. Even if something was played in defence mode the Ladybug, who Raizou was almost certain was the face down card, would simply attack him.

He was about to be beaten by a Sheep Token of all things.

This was not his day.

"I play one card face down in defence mode and end my turn," decided Raizou.

XXX

Back at the stands Taiyou was fervently talking with Chazz who was also panicking.

"Okay we need a backup plan Chazz," commented Taiyou, "Raizou's not going to win this."

"Can you summon your monster of a dragon?" Chazz asked. Raizou would only be on the field for as long as he had one monster at his side. Otherwise ...

"Maybe," nodded Taiyou.

XXX

"Orange Sheep Token attack!"

Dimitri destroyed Stormed Statue of the Aztecs. It had been three turns since he had flipped summoned his Ladybug and since he had had his Sheep Token destroy every monster that Raizou placed down.

Swarm of Scarabs, Hieracosphinx, Swarm of Locusts; whatever the cards were they were being destroyed by his sheep token. Axe of Despair lay equipped to his ladybug brining it's attack to 1800.

The only saving grace that Raizou seemed to have was that he had Dark Door on his side of the field. It was for this reason why he was still standing.

And yet Jaden couldn't help but frown at Dimitri's strategy. The longer this went the more likely Raizou was to completely blow him out of the water.

On the stands was a completely different story. Sheppard's face was completely stony while Crowler was nibbling his fingernails.

 _This wasn't how it was suppose to end. Dam it!_

Then Raizou briefly stared at his card a second longer than necessary. Nothing too unusually if one was paying attention. Of course he then decided to send a loud signal when he slammed it into set position which every attentive watcher picked up.

Zane and Jaden included.

Dimitri didn't though.

"Attack Sheep Token! Destroy that card again!"

"Not so fast!" chuckled Raizou as he flipped the card up, "I flip summon Princess Tsurugi!"

XXX

"Oh no!" widened Bastion.

XXX

"Yes!" pumped Chazz

XXX

"And her effect is plain and simple. For every single trap and spell card on your side of the field you lose 500 life points apiece," he trailed off, "And since you only have so little ..."

Dimitri LP: 1300 - 0

"You lose!" he smirked.

"That's ..." whispered Dimitri as he fell to his knees

XXX

Up on the stands the numbers ticked up until they reached their appropriate values.

Blue: 1400

Yellow: 0

XXX

"Now that was surprising," stringed out Kyrie.

Alexis just nodded, "Especially because Dimitri looked like he was about to destroy Raizou. He didn't have any Germs left in his deck or else he would have played them."

"Maybe he didn't get the chance," reminded Kyrie, "Dimitri did knock him out of his loop with his trap card. Where did he get that anyway?"

" maybe?" recollected Jasmine, "Though with a card that good he must have had it in his deck for a long time."

"It's kind of sad to see him lose," sighed Mindy dejecting, "He was duelling quite well in fact."

"Yes. Yes he was," admitted Jasmine, "But in the end he's still a Ra. There's no way that he could have defeated an Obelisk like Raizou."

The other three girls just nodded although Mindy did look a gloomy as she watched Dimitri walk out of the arena.

"It still sucks that he lost."

XXX

"Jaden," whispered Dimitri, "Bastion. I want to say ..."

Jaden just hugged his friend. He seemed to need it. It looked like he was on the verge of breaking down.

"It's alright Dimitri," he reassured, "We'll win for you. It's still not over."

"I'll be duelling Taiyou next," Bastion just stated walking out, "We'll get out of this one way or another."

"We're still here." reminded Jaden.

XXX

Satyr just looked onwards ignoring the twisted smirk on Crowler's face.

"It seemed that the Ras can't beat the Obelisks after all. Shall I get the expulsion forms out Chancellor?" taunted Crowler knowing full well that Satyr was within his hearing range.

"To be fair," advocated Sheppard, "Dimitri did duel well considering the circumstances. The score isn't such an enormous lead that I'm willing to end it prematurely Crowler."

"Yes," hissed Satyr turning to Crowler, "And I'm confident that you'll so be eating those words soon Crowler."

Crowler purses his lips, "We'll see about that. We'll see about that. Now I'm just going back to the stadium. I look forward to seeing the looks on those boys faces when they realize that they're about to be expelled."

XXX

"What are you doing little brother?" shouted the man at the computer screen. Dad had sent him the life-feed through his Duel-Academy account and the man was pissed at how things were going so far.

"You're better than this."

Then he closed his eyes, "And I swear, even if you win this Jaden, there's nothing you will be able to do to stop me from throttling you to death."


	6. Duel 6

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 6**

XXX

The architecture of the surrounding structure was twisted beyond belief. Corners, walls and windows found itself filled with spikes, mouths and a faint shade of some strange colour. It was something new. Something Gentle Death had never experienced or seen before in her entire life. The green mist surrounding the area was creepy but it was something she had experience dealing with.

Gentle Death was a small woman in her early thirties, lines of age and scars from various battles had faded and come. Yet now her body was screaming in pain, especially since she had run into those motorcycle fiends. They had dispatched her bodyguards with ease, forcing her to run for her life. It was something that she had hoped she would never have to do again and yet she did.

But now, the screams had returned and it was unsettling. No one could scream with such variety or sigma for this long. Her brain begged her to disagree and her instincts were told her to follow. In the distance Hiromi could see a tall shadowed figure and nothing else.

Gentle Death called back trying to put up a tough front, "Do you think your cheap parlour tricks scare me? You've ruined my suit. When I get out of whatever this place is you and your friends are dead. Dead I tell you."

"Did you really think this is an illusion," stepped the man his features slowly becoming more clear, "Do you really believe that what I am showing you is nothing and nothing but the truth. Or does your eyes deceive you. I guess whores have to always pretend that they are seeing something else."

Gentle Death growled knife at the ready. She had hoped to find a gun or anything lying around but she had just gotten home from a trip from a duel company conference and was in no way prepared for this.

"Don't play games with me," bellowed out Hiromi to the shadowed man, "I'm not falling for it. You think you're the only one who's tried to scam me out of my riches and used force when they didn't have that option?"

"I assure you," smirked the man stepping out of the mist. Hiromi could now see him in vivid detail and everything was just so ... wrong, "This is no game. But why don't we decide how it's played if it were. The Black Skull finds nothing if not amusement from your suffering."

Hiromi's eyes widened at that single statement.

"You're Cythrax. I understand everything now. I see that you why you wanted a duel to end our turf war," mocked Gentle Death as she looked at Cythrax, "No one gets away with peddling in my area and lives to tell the tale. Not only that but I'll win this and mockery of a game your playing."

Cythrax's appendages twitched before a sharp talon pierced the concrete floor right in front of Hiromi. Then the dark grey claw receded back where it came from.

"Don't think that I'm doing this because I care about your phony jeans and narcotics. I'm here for something more. But that's for later and this is now," shrugged Cythrax as green light dimmed through his chest, "I've found myself living and taking in substances that are far more better than what you could ever provide."

"And I want you to die," hissed Gentle Death as she turned on her duel disks. The talon had to be a trick. It had to be, "I want you to die for murdering my sub-ordinates."

Cythrax just chuckled, "You really think you can defeat me you bitch? You can't even keep your own gangers in check. They're coming to me in the dozens willingly as fiends or unwillingly as shackled specimens. Just remember this. The ones we killed were lucky. To me"

Then he flicked his duel disk.

"Death is a gift."

XXX

At duel academy another duel was taking place. While it would greatly affect the lives of many people depending on the outcome Bastion and Taiyou were blessed with the fact that it wasn't going to be one to the death.

"Well this sucks," moped Brier from the stands.

Harrington and Ishiki just patted Brier on the shoulder in response.

"Cheer up man," answered Syrus, "For all we know this can be turned around really quickly."

Harrington just snorted tossing and catching a tennis ball with ease.

"Don't get your hopes up," elaborated Brier, "The first duel usually sets the tone and skill level of who's facing who in what duel and from what I can see it's not a pretty picture."

Harrington caught the falling tennis ball and squizzed.

"Bastion might pull it off though," noted Harrington, "He isn't the top ranking student of Ra Yellow for no reason."

"The first years that is," reminded Ishiki, "And they had to pick a fight with a group of obelisks who could give him a run for his money."

"It's Bastion," bemoaned Brier, "He'll pull through. I'm not so sure about Jaden though."

"Jaden seems alright," defended Syrus, "I mean he isn't failing or anything like that."

Harrington lectured, "Just because you don't fail doesn't mean you're a good student either Syrus."

"But he never speaks out about his own accomplishments though," elaborated Ishiki, "For all we know he could be an average student who just go lucky against Crowler."

XXX

At another location in the arena Kyrie and her friends were passing the time making jokes they heard. It was now Kyrie's turn and Mindy and Jasmine were drinking in every single word she was saying.

Kyrie joked, "And then he said 'Wait did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?'"

Jasmine and Mindy giggled at the statement before looking at Alexis.

Alexis took the hint, "So what did his opponent say?"

"Well then - " continued Kyrie

XXX

"Attention spectators! The second match between the Ras and the Obelisks will commence. We will begin as soon as the duellists are prepared to do so! Have a lovely evening and enjoy this duel!" announced Sheppard over the loudspeakers.

XXX

In the staff seating area all the teachers were covering their ears from the voice-over.

"You do know that kills my ears right?" notified Satyr to Sheppard.

They were still ringing and in pain. The last time that happened was when his grand-daughter had had a party has his house and played whatever loud-music kids were into these days. Satyr would have loved to have kicked her out but he had promised his son that he'd give her the best birthday ever ... all at his expense.

Sheppard smirked, "I know but I don't usually get a chance to say anything as such. So I improvised."

"You do realize that is going to be in the recording," pointed out Satyr with a sweat-drop.

At that statement Sheppard groaned, "Oh!"

"And that if I need ear surgery Duel Academy is going to have to pay for it thanks to my contract," reminded Satyr.

Crowler perked up at that statement.

"I thought this country had universal health care?," questioned Crowler.

Satyr nodded, "It does. However it only goes up to a certain point. For ear surgery 75% of the costs are covered by the government while the rest may be covered if you are below a certain income threshold."

"And I'm guessing since we're not in poverty we're not covered," snickered Crowler connecting the dots, "But if the way you're looking at Sheppard is true ..."

Banner sung out, "Duel Academy covers it for their staff."

"Dam it!" smashed Sheppard as he punched a wall. Then he started to comically scream when he realized that just injured his hand

"Should we tell the superintendent if Satyr does go all the way?" queried Banner to Crowler.

The ugly man just waved his fellow professor off, "Let Sheppard deal with it. It's his fault in the first place."

XXX

The atmosphere was completely different in the arena floor. Silence engulfed square as the two boys drew their cards. You could hear a pin drop. Neither took their eyes off each other. Both waited and watched for any sign of weakness. Anything that could them an edge. Anything at all that would let them all but win this.

Dark grey eyes matched their dark brown counterparts. For the two of them this was it. This was the world they were in. This was the only world they played in. And it was the only world that they belonged.

Then it began.

Taiyou started pulling out his card ,"I play Pot of Greed."

"What does Pot of Greed do?' yelled someone from the stands completely breaking the tension between the two of them in the process.

"Shut up!" shouted back Taiyou as he drew two cards before continuing. He memorized the cards in his hands then looked back at Bastion, "Then since I have the card I want I use my Thunder Dragon's special effect."

"Uh oh," guessed Bastion.

That could only mean one thing. If Taiyou had the one card he needed then.

"That's right," nodded Taiyou, "I discard that one card to bring two other Thunder Dragons from my deck to my hand. Then I shuffle."

Once he did though, Taiyou spent an agonizing amount of time shuffling through his deck, almost as if he was teasing Bastion. It was working though. Looking down on his cards Bastion knew the none of them would do anything but buy him time.

"But wait there's more," smirked Taiyou once he finished shuffling, "I now use polymerization to summon Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon in attack mode!"

Twin - Headed Thunder Dragon AP: 2800

XXX

"Oh no," whispered Jaden.

Already he was thinking of how he was going to beat Chazz when he could only start with 4000 life-points. The sheer impossibility and absurdity of the situation was starting to get to him. He would have to duel perfectly. Draining shield and Emergency Provisions would also not be enough in that case.

"Can I panic now?" screeched Dimitri.

Jaden just nodded, "If you want to."

XXX

The dragon roared at Bastion. For the first time in a very long time, Bastion felt like he was five years old again, sitting on the very same stands where Seto Kaiba defeated Weevil Underwood.

Card Crush Virus, Cyber Jar and Blue Eyes White Dragon.

This was the exact same feeling only Bastion was facing the behemoth himself. He knew it wasn't real but that didn't mean his heart believed it was. He knew he wouldn't be scared if this absurd situation didn't come down to him. He knew he wouldn't be scared if he had at least one other monster on his side of the field. He knew a lot of things.

"Then I end my turn by playing two cards face down. It's your move." he gestured ending his turn.

But today might be the one time he would put everything to practice.

Bastion just nodded, "I play one card face - down in defence mode and one card face down."

Come on Taiyou. Take the bait.

"Alright," snickered Taiyou, "Prepare to face my other dragons in my deck. While Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon is my best monster that doesn't mean it's the only one I will use to lose. First I play Masked Dragon in attack mode."

A smaller dragon appeared to Bastion's left, it's grin etching and taunting Bastion. He just had to last a bit longer.

Masked Dragon AP: 1400

"Then I augment its attack points further by playing Dragon Treasure which allows me to choose one dragon monster on the field and increase its attack and defence points by 300 and I choose my Masked Dragon," finalized Taiyou.

Masked Dragon AP: 1400 - 1700

Masked Dragon DP: 1100 - 1400

"Now attack that face down card Twin-headed Thunder Dragon!" roared Taiyou, "Destroy that face-down."

A fat blue magnet warrior appeared in temporal form before fading out. Step 1 complete. None of the cards in Bastions' hand had the effect he wanted but just two more and it would be more than enough

Bastion thinned his lips, "You've just destroyed Gamma the Electromagnetic Warrior."

"Did I?" noted Taiyou as he saw it's 2000 defence points, "It's a good thing I used my Thunder Dragon then. I now command my Masked Dragon to attack you directly!"

The mask smashed though Bastion's torso pushing him back slightly. His stomach ached a bit. Who's idea was it to put pain receptors in this game?

Bastion's LP: 4000 - 2300

XXX

Was this the end? It seemed like it to Zane. However he knew from firsthand experience that you never count your duels before the end. Never count your chickens before they hatched. It all came down to one card. His brother Syrus was an example of such. Using power bond without a backup plan was foolish to say the least. The problem was finding the card that would balance out his deck for that reason.

Looking down on the stadium Zane couldn't help but be reminded of the day he had duelled the Joey Wheeler at a charity duel. It had been a match to temporarily increase its funding for the new facilities. It was also the one time Zane had not been afraid or disappointed in losing.

 _"That's a nice Cyber Twin Dragon you have out"_

Joey was down to only his Red-Eyes a face-down. Of course the very next turn Wheeler had annihilated Zane by summoning Meteor Black Dragon and Mega-morph. It had been an illuminating experience and had taught the eight year old Zane quite allot about his duelling strategies.

Bastion seemed to be giving of a whisper of that day. A fragment almost. Zane could not understand why he was seeing it though and why he thought that it mattered. All it meant for him was that Taiyou wasn't going to win this match.

He just knew it.

XXX

"My move," Bastion answered as he drew a card. He nearly gasped at the card he just drew. Bastion's eyes widened at it but it soon turned into a smile. Just what he needed.

Just one more card though.

"I play one card face down in defence mode," he finished, "That is all."

Just one more turn. One more turn.

"Are you going to be on the defensive for the rest of this match? I'm going to beat you without losing a single life-point," questioned Taiyou, "Not that it matters. I came for a beat stick battle Bastion. That's why I'm here at duel academy. I want the chance to get the Five God Dragon. It's too bad that you can't deliver. Destroy that face down monster Thunder Dragon!"

The monster in questioned turned out to be Milus Radiant which has defence points equal to 250.

"That's your strong monster?" chuckled Taiyou unable to help himself., "Not that it matters. Sure it would have been dangerous if there was another monster on you field but there isn't."

Bastion could only tepidly smile. One more card. One more card.

"Now attack Bastion's life-points once again Masked Dragon!"

Bastion's LP: 2300 - 600

Only for that smile to be wiped out by the fact that his life-points were close to zero.

"And I end by playing another card face down."

The last sentence felt like a cavern away. Just an echo. What mattered was what was in his deck. Bastion wasn't a person to believe. He had mathematically structured his deck for the best possible outcome against Taiyou. The only problem was the fact that that Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon was on the field.

He had never expected that Tai you would summon it out so quickly and so easily. But that didn't matter now.

"I see," frowned Bastion a world away before drawing one card. He studied the card for a second.

Then he laughed.

XXX

Up on the stands Chazz and Raizou were fondly looking down at Taiyou as he obliterated Bastion's life-points turn by turn. It was an entertaining appetizer.

Raizou grunted to Chazz, "He's lost it."

"Not really," observed Chazz who was unusually silent.

Bastion was known for getting some of the highest grades possible in the written entrance exam. That wasn't including the fact that he's also managed to maintain those same grades for the past few weeks which demonstrated that it wasn't a fluke. He would have dominated this match. But something was up. Something was wrong.

"Something's about to happen."

XXX

Up in the teacher's stands Satyr rejoiced getting odd looks from his co-workers, "He's done it!"

"Done what?" asked Ms. Fontaine as she turned back to the stadium with new curiosity.

Whatever had gotten Satyr so rejuvenated after the miserable match had to be game-changing.

XXX

"How are you so happy?" questioned Taiyou finding the sight odd.

Just a moment ago Bastion was at odds with him in despair. Now it was replaced with nothing but a grin. Slowly his opponents laugh dribbled down.

Bastion just calmly explained, "Because this duel is already over."

"You're right. Are you giving up now? No. That wouldn't matter anyways," retorted Taiyou as he looked at his Dragons.

"That's nice," smirked Bastion, "I have to say one thing though. I summon the card that I just drew. Come forth Beta the Electromagnetic Warrior."

Beta AP: 1500

Seeing the confusion on his opponents face Bastion elaborated, "But don't feel confident in his low attack points because now I use his special effect."

"Once per turn I can bring one level four or lower Rock monster from my deck to my hand and I choose Alpha the Magnet Warrior!" roared Bastion before revealing two other cards in his hand.

Beta the Magnet Warrior and Gamma the Magnet Warrior.

But that meant ...

"No way!" gasped Taiyou as if knowing what was about to come.

"And now," grinned Bastion ,"I use Alpha, Beta and Gamma to summon Valkyrion the Magna Warrior in attack mode!"

The three monsters broke into pieces in a mesmerizing dance. Like clockwork efficiency parts were discarded and rearranged. Magnet arms, legs and bodies structured themselves to create a much larger creature. A stronger being.

Then the newly made monster Blazed to Life.

Valkyrion AP: 3500

"You wanted a beat stick battle right?" questioned Bastion at his now terrified opponent, "Well here it is. Now here it is. Attack Valkyrion. Destroy that Twin-headed Dragon!"

"Not if I can help it," shot back Taiyou flipping up one card, "I play my face down Hallowed Life Barrier, where I can discard one card from my hand to prevent any damage to my monsters for one turn."

Then he activated another trap card.

"Then for added insurance I play Burst Breath and use it to destroy Beta by sacrificing my Masked Dragon. It's going to make this a little more difficult but I don't want to take the risk of having you summon another Magnet Warrior," explained Taiyou.

"Getting scared?" smirked Bastion, "Just one turn ago you were saying how much you wanted to destroy me without losing a single life-point. But that doesn't matter. Your Hallowed life barrier is no match for me because I play Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"No!" screamed Taiyou taking a step back.

"That's right isn't it?" answered Bastion, "And since you are feeling a bit under the weather why don't I shake things up a little?"

XXX

There was much discussion going on all over the arena, many of the formerly dejected Ra's cheering Bastion on. With the Obelisk girls however, there was a flurry of questions.

"Why didn't he just destroy Burst Breath?" questioned Mindy as the barrier broke to pieces from a thunder-bolt pierce.

The arena crackled with energy as Valkyrion rived to life as if knowing what it's owner was about to ask for it to do.

Alexis clipped out, "Because Bastion probably knows that Taiyou doesn't have a come-back for him otherwise."

Kyrie nodded at her friends answer before injecting her own theory ,"That and Bastion wants to end this with as many life-points as possible. Take for example Luster Dragon which is in Taiyou's deck. If he were to play that next turn, then Bastion's life-points drop to 200. By letting Taiyou use Burst Breath though he clears his own field without having to worry about losing any life-points for a while."

"Does Taiyou have any field sweep cards like Raigeki?" asked Alexis as he turned to Kyrie. Seeing the look on her friends face Alexis just elaborated, "You seem to know a lot about what cards are about to be played and why so I just thought I'd ask."

If it was just Alexis, Kyrie would have just ignored it. Hopefully she'd have forgotten about it. But her statement had drawn the attention of both Mindy and Jasmine.

"Well," rubbed out Kyrie, "I visited those three a few times in the past weeks. Stopped by to see what they were doing. That kind of stuff."

"And you were allowed to?" asked Jasmine, "Aren't they under house arrest?"

Mindy replied, "Just because they're under house arrest doesn't mean that they can't talk to visitors."

Alexis only skimmed the ongoing discussion between those two. It was Kyrie who was of importance. Alexis was too perceptive and knew her friend too well for her to hide something like this.

Alexis scrunched, "Kyrie what aren't you telling me?"

"I will tell you later," promised Kyrie seeing that there was no getting out of this.

XXX

"Now Valkyrion destroy that Thunder Dragon!" ordered Bastion.

The Magnet Warrior flew at the Twin-Headed Behemoth slicing off one its heads. Blood gushed out as its head rolled to the floor and shattered to pieces.

Taiyou LP: 4000 - 3300

Bastion conceded, "I play one card face down and end my turn."

If nothing else he wanted to end this right now but since Valkyrion could only attack once a turn it was something he would have to deal with.

"Then I play one other card face-down," copied Taiyou.

There wasn't even a single monster card on Taiyou side. It was completely bare and that wasn't including the fact that said face-downs were almost the exact same as the ones he used at the start of the duel.

If Taiyou did have any cards that could destroy Valkyrion Bastion was almost certainly sure that Taiyou would have used them.

"Then now it's my move. I play one card face down in defence mode," laughed Bastion as he once again took command, "And since you don't have any monsters on your side of the field or anything that can save you now go Valkyrion! Annihilate his life points!"

Taiyou screamed as the Magna Warrior's eyes flickered yellow. It was the first time seeing the Magna Warrior up close and while it certainly was very blocky and odd to look that didn't matter now. Seeing a sword up close would make anyone sweat, real or not.

And then it slashed through him.

Taiyou LP: 3300 - 0

Life points now completely depleted Bastion let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't what he was hoping for. Preferably with everything still intact but it was a win. That was more than enough for Bastion.

Bastion did have to acknowledge his opponent though, "You got lucky on your first two turns Taiyou. But your failure to destroy me when you had the chance was you downfall."

Then he turned his back on Taiyou and began walking out of the arena.

"This isn't over," growled Taiyou as he scrunched his fists.

Bastion just nodded, "It is for now.

XXX

"No!" moaned Crowler from the teacher's box, "That had to be a fluke. That had to be!"

"And now I know I'm going to have to get some ear surgery and a hearing aid," sighed Satyr once again rubbing his ears.

"Oh quit your moaning Crowler," hissed Ms Fontaine who was now looking down at the stadium in interest, "Bastion's just a better student and player."

"I have to agree with my colleague," argued Banner, "Taiyou admitted to summoning his best monster and still lost. The only reason Bastion's life-points are so low are because it takes time to draw the right card for his counter-attack."

"That still doesn't mean it can't be a fluke," shouted backed Crowler.

Satyr just drily stated still rubbing his ears,"Drink your coffee Crowler. You're a monster without it."

XXX

"That's game," announced Sheppard from the stadium, "The Ra team win this round."

The result incited quite a bit of cheers from the red and yellow uniformed students who had turned out for the duel. Sheppard himself was neutral on the whole statement. He would have considered making another announcement on the matter but that went unsaid. So he just stood in the middle of the arena nursing his injured hand.

He come down to congratulate Bastion in person for the simple reason that the boy deserved that much at least. Wrong crowd he may have hung out with but that didn't mean he would go easy on their punishment.

XXX

 **Yellow: 600**

 **Blue: 1400**

XXX

"That's it Bastion!" cheered Brier from the stands.

Syrus turned to Ishiki, "He must really hate the Obelisks if that's how he acts from one win."

"Oh believe me," grunted Ishiki, "If Jaden pulls off something spectacular I'm pretty sure Brier would raid the teacher's liquor cabinet and dance around naked on the dorm's balcony."

XXX

Jaden and Dimitri had finished congratulating their friend at his win. Now that the initial ecstasy of the situation had disappeared the trio had taken the time to understand their new situation. They were still points down but if all went well Jaden would only have to pull off a half-decent win.

"We have lead but not by a lot," noted Bastion, "It comes down to you Jaden."

"I know," as he activated his duel disk, "Its time me and Chazz finished what we started three weeks ago."

Turning away from the three Jaden walked towards the stairs entrance.

"Just be careful," warned Bastion ,"Chazz has had plenty of resources at his disposal and that's not including the fact the duel in question is ..."

"I know," answered Jaden, "You can count on me."

It went unsaid about how vicious this was going to get. Back when he had first faced Chazz it was a simple match. Jaden knew that if he did nothing and just ignored the whole issue, there would be no good endings. He had a future to live up to and while people would whisper about what duels he had once done, if they found out that he had turned one down from one of the Princeton brothers, especially Chazz, that would not go well.

In this world it didn't matter how much or how well you did. Anyone could beat anyone else and that's why he had accepted it. People would talk if Chazz said he lost to him. Jaden could not abide by that. His father would not have let him abide by it. He had told Bastion that he didn't want to duel Chazz that night, preferring a later time, but fate had played his hand.

Things have just spiralled out of control since then. The melee the six of them had been involved in had gained them plenty of notoriety and had just deepened the dislike the two trios had for each other. Not only were the stakes higher here but the commitment and desire for victory was much more so as well.

"Good luck!" wished Dimitri and Bastion.

XXX

"Taiyou," growled Chazz, "We had this in the bag."

"I'm sorry Chazz," apologized Taiyou as he looked at Chazz's balling fists. He hoped this would get violent. He'd already been in one fight this year and it was more than enough for him.

Chazz sharply hissed back, "Well sorry isn't good enough. It certainly isn't now. All you had to do was wipe him out in one more turn."

"We had all the monsters that were needed," defended Raizou.

"That's true," acknowledged Chazz, "But now it's come down to me and Jaden."

Sensing an opportunity Raizou placated and re-directed, "At least your finally going to get your re-match with him. Then we can laugh at them as they leave the boat to nowhere."

The slight nod from Taiyou was all he needed to know he had done the right thing.

"Yeah," sniggered Chazz now feeling a bit positive at the idea, "I might just call my brothers and make sure that those three drown in a storm. It's the least they should get since I lost an eye."

"Yep," nodded Raizou quickly. Taiyou however frowned.

Chazz bragged, "Why don't you two just buckle up now. Your about to see how the Chazz duels it out."

Only when Chazz was out of earshot did the duo start actually discussing his behaviour and the match.

"He's completely lost it," whispered Raizou.

"Maybe, maybe not," whispered back Taiyou, "I just hope that he can get a new eye soon."

XXX

In another location Aster Phoenix was staring at his large television. Sartorius stood behind him providing him with all the important bits and details. It truly was an odd situation

"So this is the kid who plans to become the next King of Games?" asked Aster as he watched Jaden walk into the arena, "He doesn't look very impressive."

"Oh he is," replied Sartorius before elaborating further, "Three time winner of the Regional Youth Championship , quarter-finalist in the nationwide youth league last year, the list goes on and on."

With each win and award Aster's face became more and more perplexed.

"How come I haven't heard of him then?" asked Aster. His manager would usually keep him updated about new duellists that he would face and what to expect from them.

Sartorius sighed, "He didn't register onto my radar until he entered Duel Academy. You know how it is. Just because you can duel and are a good duellist as a child does not mean that you will be a good duellist later in life or decide to become a professional altogether."

"Such as 'Ben'," air-quoted Aster, "As I like to call him."

Ah yes 'Ben'.

"Yes like 'Ben'. Fate seems quite fickle and fluctuating about this boy,," ticked Sartorius, "I was hoping you would be willing to observe this match. My inside source had some difficulty getting past security."

"Okay I'll watch it," agreed Aster, "And if this Jaden kid does to something impressive I'll make sure to watch it again."

XXX

"I hope you're ready for this you Reject," taunted Chazz now that he was once again face to face with Jaden, "Because you're about to dearly wish you had taken the suspension."

Jaden just remain completely silent and shuffled his deck.

"Didn't you hear me?" shouted Chazz, "Or couldn't you hear me over the fact that this is the end. The peak. The top of your second-rate career."

Jaden just ignored his one eye opponent as he looked at the card bottom of his deck before shuffling once more. Seeing that he was being ignore Chazz decided to bring up the one comment that would almost certain get something from Jaden.

"Or maybe your sister would - "

That caused Jaden to tense up before slowly pushing his deck into his duel disk. Looking straight at Chazz there was no denial that there wasn't bad blood between them. There was a sense of deep loathing and volatile hatred. Eyes like a man that would destroy lives for nothing less than petty revenge.

"I have three sisters," calmly interrupted Jaden before elaborating, "Or had. One's a frigid bitch. One has a phobia to fire and molten steel and the other is dead Chazz."

Then he drew his five cards, eyes completely on Chazz and no-one else. He blazed with cold fury, posture rigid and knees shoulder apart.

"So make fun of my sister. Go ahead. I'll make you regret every single word you say."


	7. Duel 7

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 7**

XXX

In a enormous room sat Vect lazily on his throne. Skulls decorated the platform, only giving up a more creepy vibe by the fact that many of them had crystals in their eye holes. On the other hand several of the eyes were still moving. Above Vect stood the rotting corpse of the two security guards Titan had killed. They were fine gift to his every growing arsenal of victims. Beside him were his two advisors Cythrax and Lillith who were also sitting on their smaller but no less sinister thrones.

The purple and blue lightning was suppose to provide a calm, soothing atmosphere in contrast to the corpses of several of Titan's victims. Vect himself found the whole situation trivial, primarily because it was done through more mundane methods and because Titan tended to kill his victims relatively quickly.

Relatively was the important word.

In front of Titan stood the naked form of Hiromi the newest victim and plaything Cythrax had provided to their newest recruit after he had had his way with her. Cythrax had gotten every single thing he had wanted from her. Every. Single. Thing.

Now Titan was the one being spoiled by his new prize. Whereas the previous Hiromi was a headstrong woman who had taken the worst of the lowest rugs of society and risen to the top of the pyramid, the new one was just a weak, chained middle-aged woman covered in scars and sweating with terror.

Cythrax would have drowned her in worse but as said before he had everything he had wanted out of her. Vect and Lillith were neatly observing Titan's actions because while Titan had been acting in line and following their orders his new mission required a new ... set of skills.

Titan slash Hiromi's face once with his new metal claws causing the woman to shriek in fright. He was hoping to have his way with her but his superiors wanted a show of his strength.

And he would gladly obliged.

He slashed Hiromi's face once again, causing another shriek of pain and a trickle of blood to ooze out of the woman's face. Pathetic. He had been doing this for less than ten minutes and the woman was already a frightful mess. Too bad though. He hadn't been able to drink in his the fun at all tonight.

Titan smiled viciously as he raised his claws for the final blow., "I wonder how far I much of your body I can tear off ... with one hand."

Then he stabbed Hiromi in the stomach. His hand pierced through to the other side of her body coating it with blood.

"Oh don't be scared. I never hit the same place twice. Maybe I'll go for the head next time. Maybe it'll be your pussy," he chuckled before slowly pulling out his hands.

"AH!" screamed Hiromi as Titan ripped out half her stomach with his bare hands.

She bled to the ground, blood pulling to the floor. The stains would provide a deft of colour o the otherwise white marble.

Then Titan yelled at Cythrax, "Hey Cythrax. Fix her up. I want to rip her apart again!"

"Really?" smirked Cythrax nevertheless walking past Titan.

He knew this was coming the moment Titan had turned to his face. It was what he did. Taking a leap off his platform Cythrax landed right in front of Titan. With a grunt several thin, black spidery appendages opened up behind his back. The appendages then broke up into various fingers oozing with liquid and unnatural mandibles. Rearranging Hiromi's stomach lining and shocking was just the miraculous knowledge he had in store but one very trivial for Cythrax; especially because the corpse was still fresh.

Once he was sure he had followed the correct procedure Cythrax revived Hiromi.

Only to have Titan slash her again.

"Ah!" screamed Hiromi as Titan ripped out her jugular this time.

"Again!" cheered Titan.

Cythrax re-arranged the ripped off organ after prying it from Titan. Then he re-arranged it onto Hiromi once again. Finally he shocked her again.

Titan then stabbed her in the pelvis and ripped out another organ.

"Again!"

"Again!"

And so the process repeated throughout the night, Hiromi's screams being just one of the many but not the last of the members of the Black Skull. Lillith smiled; their organization as growing to the size they needed.

Just as planned.

XXX

Back at Duel Academy the final duel was about to commence. You could taste the excitement and tears.

"This is it," commented Kyrie, "The last hurdle."

"It's been pretty even sided so far," acknowledge Alexis, "Although I'm not going to bet on who's going to be the winner of this match."

"Jaden," bluntly answered Mindy.

"Really?" questioned Jasmine to her friend, "Why?"

"Well Dimitri was pretty good and ..."

Alexis and Kyrie could only sigh at the ongoing argument.

XXX

In contrast to the friendly atmosphere that filled the box between the four girls, Chazz and Jaden had not taken their eyes off each other. Arms crossed and eyes completely steady Jaden was out for blood.

Chazz even more so.

Jaden stated, "Let's end this once and for all."

"I've been itching to wipe that swagger out of your step," hissed Chazz twitching his fingers.

Jaden hummed back balling his fists, "Well I'm hoping that I can blind your other eye."

That got a growl from Chazz.

Sheppard broke apart the two boys hoping they wouldn't kill each other, "Just duel already!"

That wasn't a strict hyperbole though and that's what worried Sheppard. These two were suppose to be the future; especially if the Shadow Riders do appear this year. he had barely walked off stage when Chazz started the duel with an explosive start.

"I'll go first. I play V-Tiger Jet in attack mode!," Chazz taunted, "Then I add Frontline Base. Front-line Base specially ability is that once per turn I can summon a Union monster from man hand to the field."

XXX

"Oh no," whispered Dimitri from up in the stands.

Bastion agreed, "He's using the XYZ deck. That's both a good and a bad thing."

XXX

" And I chose W-Fighter Jet. But these monsters aren't staying for long. I'm fusing them to bring out a monster from my extra deck. In all your mechanized glory VW Tiger Catapult," he smirked.

VW - Tiger Catapult AP: 2000

Jaden knew exactly was about to come for two main reasons. First he had actually looked up Chazz's deck and researched any ways to beat it ahead of time. Secondly his own father used those cards, and while Chazz talked a big game, his dad was in a league of his own.

"I play three cards face down," replied Jaden, "And one card face down in defence mode."

"In that case," chuckled Chazz at Jaden's pitiful reply, "I summon X-Head Cannon!"

X-Head Cannon AP: 1800

"Bad move Chazz," activated Jaden, "Because I play two trap cards. First I play Chain of Destruction!"

"It's effects are that whenever a monster with less than 2000 attack points is summoned I get to pick out exact replicas of it in your deck and put them into the graveyard!"

"Wait no! that means...," screamed Chazz as two other copies of X-Head were removed from his deck.

"Then I play Bottomless Trap Hole!" continued Jaden revealing his other trap card, "Whenever a monster with over 1500 attack points is summoned I banish it to the void."

"But that means," stuttered Chazz realizing what Jaden had just done.

"No more XYZ dragon cannon," answered Jaden.

XXX

"In one move Jaden's all but crippled Chazz's deck ability to summon his powerful monsters," acknowledged Sheppard from the teacher's box, "Very impressive don't you think Crowler?"

"Yes," growled Crowler, "Yes it is."

XXX

"Screw you," replied Chazz from the arena, "Because while you've made it much easier for me to summon another X-Head Cannon. I play Call of the Haunted! And since you were so generous to send it to the grave-yard I think I'll bring back X-Head Cannon."

"Uh-oh," whispered Jaden.

X-Head Cannon AP: 1800

"That's right," smirked Chazz, "Now attack VW Tiger catapult destroy that face-down card!"

"Dam it!" screamed Jaden before showing his monster.

Red Wyrm.

"You've just activated Red-Wyrm's special effect Chazz. Whenever it's destroyed in battle you lose 500 life points," explained Jaden.

The ghost of the fire dragon appeared in front of Chazz and shot a torrent of fire at him.

"Dam," Chazz cursed.

Chazz LP: 4000 - 3500

Of course he wasn't done yet.

"But that still doesn't change the fact that my X-Head Cannon can still attack," returned Chazz.

"Ah!" screamed Jaden as the machine blasted him.

Jaden LP: 4000 - 2200

Glancing at the card he had just drawn Jaden quickly formulated a plan.

"Then I play one card face down and summon a monster you should I know I have," returned Jaden, "Come on out Giant Red Seasnake."

Seasnake AP: 1800

"Now attack that X-Head Cannon," kamikaze Jaden.

"But that will mean that they'll destroy each other," pointed out Chazz.

Jaden smirked, "I know. But that's the reason I'm doing it."

The seasnake twisted around the cannon causing it to malfunction and blow-up. It burnt to ashes in the process as well.

"Thanks for that," smirked Chazz, "Because now your wide open. Just to be on the safe-side I play one card-face down. Now attack him directly Tiger Catapult!"

"You really don't learn do you," reminded Jaden making a call back to their first duel, "Oh well. You activated my trap card ; Mirror Force! Mirror force's ability is that it destroys all Attack Position monsters on my opponent's side of the field. Guess which one I choose?"

"Then I end my turn," growled Chazz as his VW - Tiger Catapult destroyed itself.

"Good move. I play another card face-down and end my turn," repeated Jaden.

"Then I play one card face down," copied Chazz.

Neither player had any monsters on their sides of the field.

XXX

"That's surprising," noted Dimitri from up in the stands.

"You always say that whenever someone doesn't do anything noteworthy," pointed out Bastion.

Huffing at his friend's comment Dimitri explained, "Doesn't make it any less true. I guess the two of them used up all their possible monster cards in the first few turns."

Bastion raised realizing what Dimitri was saying, "Oh then this is over."

Dimitri smiled a little, "But I don't think a little encouragement wouldn't go unnoticed."

"I thought we had to ..." questioned Bastion.

XXX

"Fine Rising Hallejuah," sang Jaden as he drew his card. He had looked over the stands and had noticed Dimitri acting slightly weird but had gotten the message

"What the hell is that?" asked Chazz looking over the stands as well.

Jaden just beamed, "Just something my friends and I decided to make together."

"And how will that help you?" asked Chazz looking his opponents.

"Fine Rising Hallejuah," straightened Jaden ,"Remember that song. I want you to remember that for the rest of your life."

"What is it? And why?" asked back Chazz.

"Because of this card," he retorted showing it to Chazz.

XXX

"Are you sure this is allowed?" asked Ms. Fontaine from the teacher's box.

"That phase might not make a lot of sense to you," grinned Satyr ,"But it does to my little Ras. They love that song because the three of them karaoked it the night before their match. As a nice parting gift to their fellow Ras if they lost."

"Were they expecting to lose then?" asked Sheppard turning to Satyr, "There's no point in having a code if it's the last person playing it."

"Especially because those drop-outs boys told me about that phrase before they even started," backed Crowler, "You don't hand your plans straight to the enemy."

"Really?" queried Banner, "That doesn't sound like you to let them off the with that so easily."

"It's not," admitted Crowler, "But if those Ra's wanted to sing that once then who am I to stop them."

Satyr waved off, "Not at all and that's a good thing. I'm glad you let them say that Crowler. But let's just say that if Jaden drew a card that he expects to use to win this."

XXX

"I play Graceful Charity," answered Jaden, "Which allows me to draw three cards but discard two."

Then Jaden quickly sent the appropriate cards into his graveyard.

"No," widened Chazz, "I activate my trap-card Des-Counterblow. If any monster on either side of our fields decides to attack us then it is automatically destroyed. I know what kind of monsters people summon with graceful charity. Normally it's used as a way to get past tribute costs."

"Good for you," admitted Jaden, "But that's not going to save you from me because I play my two face-down cards."

One was an old man holding up two potions while the other was a card Chazz himself had played.

"The first is Poison of the Old Man. When this card is played I get to choose if I want to give myself 1200 life-points or to make you lose 800."

An orb of light circled over Chazz and Jaden's head upon the card's activation.

"And I choose the latter," emphasized Jaden directly the blast to Chazz.

Chazz LP: 3500 - 2700

"So," scoffed Chazz, "I still have more life-points than you."

"That's true," admitted Jaden before activating his second-face down, "Yet I play another card that you yourself should have; Call of the Haunted. Chazz you were half right about my plan. But that's not good enough."

"So?" once again asked Chazz, "There's nothing in your grave-yard that's strong enough to wipe me out. Giant Red Sea-snake and that's pretty much it."

"Wrong," smirked Jaden, "Remember the two-cards I just discarded?"

The two cards flashed before Chazz's mind as they were placed into Jaden's graveyard. Jaden's indigidant smirk played through his mind.

"Oh!" widened Chazz.

One of them must have been an extremely powerful monster.

"That's right. I choose to bring back one monster that is can beat you; Dark Horus! Arise from the ashes of the grave and wreck havoc throughout the night." commanded Jaden.

Shadows shifted round the arena as they danced in a web of light. Then the shadows sprang up together colliding against one another to form a ball of energy. Black, silver and grey light streaked out from the ball as it took the shape of a magnificent dark phoenix. It's metallic feathers lusted through the arena staring down at Chazz's empty field.

Then it screamed a cry of merciless vengeance and Crowler knew that this was over.

Dark Horus AP: 3000

XXX

"Oh," Harrington observed, "Looks like Zane has some competition."

"What I don't get is if he had such a powerful monster," retorted Brier, "Why didn't he summon it then play Poison of the Old Man?"

"And why's that?" asked Ishiki as he looked at the black phoenix.

"Dark Horus is a very powerful monster. I can see why Jaden talked about it on his first day and the updated version is even more powerful," explained Brier, "Originally Dark Horus has the effect, where if spell card is played on your opponent's turn you can bring back one level four DARK monster from the graveyard. The newer version is even more powerful allowing you to bring back any level four or lower levelled dark monster whenever any spell card is played."

That got a surprised look on Syrus's face.

"So not only is that card as strong as the Blue Eyes White Dragon, it's ability means that you can summon another monster from your graveyard making spell cards an risky choice to make," understood Syrus, "But Jaden seems to be using the older version of that monster."

"Or this would be over," finished Brier.

"It already is," elaborated Harrington, "Jaden didn't play Call of the Haunted first for a very good reason. Look at Chazz's field. There are still two face downs on that side of the field. If one of them turned out to be Mystical Space Typhoon or something of such Jaden would have just crippled himself altogether leaving Chazz to attack him directly the next turn."

"Your right," gasped Brier, "And it wouldn't matter what card Chazz pulled. As long as Jaden's life-points reach less than 800 this match ends with Chazz's victory."

"So that's why he didn't use those two cards until now," understated Syrus ,"Chazz could have pulled any other stunt to win this match."

XXX

"Finish him!" screamed Jaden, "Dark Horus shadow beam blast!"

The black winged phoenix raised itself to the top of the stadium. It's enormous body caused a shadow to appear over Chazz who could only gap in terror. Curling its wings to cover its mouth Dark Horus began charging up a black ball of energy. Then with a ear splitting scream it launched the beam of energy directly at the Obelisk boy.

Chazz LP: 2700 - 0

For a moment all everyone could stare at the win that Jaden pulled. Life-points set to 2200 Jaden had emerged victorious and had virtually eliminated any doubt that his victory against Crowler was a complete fluke.

XXX

 **Yellow: 2800**

 **Blue: 1400**

XXX

"And the Ra team has won the team match!" announced Sheppard.

XXX

"Yeah!" screamed Dimitri who ran up to Jaden.

"We did it didn't we?" smiled Bastion right behind him.

"Oh yes," laughed Jaden before giving his friends a hug. The three boys could only laugh knowing that they were completely safe from elimination.

XXX

"No!" screamed Crowler, "This can't be happening. This can't be true. This can't be ..."

"It is," interrupted Satyr, "House arrest for the three of them."

"Don't you want to congratulate them?" asked Banner, "I mean it's not every day that Ra students beat Obelisks and this is no exception."

Satyr looked down the arena where the three boys in yellow uniforms kept laughing. A small trickle of other Ra's were coming doing to the stage to greet and congratulate their fellow students.

"No. I have a lot of work to do now.," answered Satyr, "Plus I'm going to have to be the one to inform the Princeton brothers that they're younger brother has just lost the punishment match."

"Ouch," sympathised Banner, "Good thing I'm not you then. Although I'm pretty sure your Ras are going to have a party."

"Should we stop them then?" shot back Satyr, "For all I care this mess is over. Let them have their fun."

XXX

It was so odd seeing Jaden duel Chazz. Granted he understood what was at stake and why they were doing it. To Zane there was nothing else that needed to be said. Yet there was some odd again with Jaden. The siren's call that he had faintly heard during Bastion's match was basically screaming in his ear. Zane could have sworn he had seen Jaden duel once before. Once.

But why? He had never met Jaden until he had thrown Raizou out a window. He had never actually duelled him either. Something more was going on here and Zane had to get to the bottom of it. There was one place where he could begin his investigation and that was in the incident report.

XXX

"Okay spill everything now," ordered Alexis turning to Kyrie. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zane walking away from the arena silently.

Kyrie tried to placate, "It's not my story to tell but I do believe that your owed an explanation."

"You do," cooled Jasmine.

"Meet me at the Ra dorms tonight. I'll contact you when," she insisted harshly

Jasmine, Mindy and Alexis would only look at each other before nodding at Kyrie's harsh face.

XXX

Soothing music filled the air as the Ra students mingled and chatted with each other. Drinks and refreshments were being served by Jaden himself. Dimitri was acting as a dealer as he passed out card to several other Ra students in what was some weird twisted version of Crazy Eights, Poker, Blackjack and ... something else.

No one really knew what it was called but it was sure fun.

Especially because Dimitri actually had a rule list for any questions the players had. The eight of them were constantly watching each other, waiting for a signal that would give the other away. Fortunately Dimitri wasn't playing himself, in the interests of fair play, and they were using normal playing cards.

Jaden didn't want to have Duel Monsters being flung around indoors and Bastion and Dimitri agreed. The last thing the trio had wanted was to have to add property damage to their list. With everything that was going on none of them put is past Crowler to find another reason for them to get expelled.

Bastion was discussing popular deck types with Brier and their flaws while also goring through his calculations and equations to the rapid audience of three. Actually there was five but Ishiki and someone else were having a push up contest right as Bastion stood on the top of both boys.

"Fifty three," growled Ishiki's opponent.

"- And that's why using an earth deck is good against a water deck so long as a legendary ocean is not in play," finished Bastion.

Altogether it was a very odd gathering of Ra students pattered by some Obelisks and Slifers who just wanted to hang around.

An example for such was Syrus listening to whatever Bastion had to say as he jotted everything down. The teal haired boy had been invited after Zane had notified Jaden that he wasn't coming tonight. It was strange how they got access though Mindy noted.

Most of the Ras had just stopped by to congratulate Dimitri and his pals on their magnificent win. Jaden had milked the gratitude for what it was worth by making the entire dorm give them the cafeteria for five hours, thus the quiet party. Every other door was locked from the outside with Yamanaka, and occasionally Jaden, having to ejected anyone who decided to cause any trouble.

Fortunately there hadn't been any more incidents but the gathering was odd to say the least. It was nothing like any of the parties she had been invited to as a teenager concluded Mindy. The atmosphere alone gave that away. It was very makeshift in organization but that was accepted as well.

The sizzling of bacon told her that their meal was finished. Quickly Jaden pulled out the strips and began placing them in the proper palettes. Altogether it was like those get together her grandma always had. Granted this one was larger in scale but the point still stood.

So how had they gotten in?

Kyrie was the one they should be thanking. Apparently she knew Jaden well enough for it to warrant a pass through Yamanaka on his insistence.

"This doesn't seem like a party," brushed off Jasmine.

Mindy just puffed up, "Well I'll admit the food is a bit worse than the girls dorms but it does seem like a well made gathering of odd people."

"So you were saying that it sucks?' answered Jaden appearing behind the girls making them shriek.

Kyrie seemed quite miffed from Jaden's antics as well.

"Don't do that to us," hissed Kyrie.

"Well it's been a stressful day," commented Jaden, "I just thought it would be a nice little inside joke to play."

"And you always do that whenever I have friends over because ..." trailed Kyrie.

Jaden elaborated, "Because it's nice to have friends that can see all the sides of you. That way you know if they're worth holding onto."

"Hey!" complained Mindy and Jasmine.

"That's not what we're here for," interrupted Alexis knowing where this argument was about to go towards. She knew it would be bad to draw attention to what Jaden had said but neither Kyrie or Jaden seemed to mind the comment.

"What we want to ask is what did Kyrie do for the three of you?" queried Alexis.

Jaden straightened up at the question before growling to Kyrie, "You told them?"

"They wanted to know and I might have slipped some stuff about how I was meeting the three of you in the Ra dorms," defended Kyrie.

Jaden just growled again, "So you told them? What can't you keep your mouth shut for once Kyrie?"

"I'm sorry," apologised Kyrie, "But they're my friends. I think I can trust them on this matter."

"Really," mocked Jaden, "Tell me would you be willing to go all the way for them then? Would you risk the career you built and people you stepped on the way up for them?"

That was a bit of a hyperbole but so was life. Kyrie didn't say anything though which was all Jaden needed. Then as he started walking towards the oven a small word escaped her lips.

"Yes."

That got everyone to freeze. Mindy, Jasmine and Alexis found it touching while Jaden just looked at her in shock.

"Are you stupid," hissed Jaden, "You've only known them for three weeks at the most. Alexis I can understand but Mindy and Jasmine? Really?"

"I said yes," argued back Kyrie firmly.

"And your poor judgement is what always gets me into trouble. You always trust the wrong people," Jaden shot back flexing his left arm. The one that was troubled.

Kyrie stiffened at Jaden's gesture but refused to back down. Jaden wanted to just walk away. He really did. But Kyrie was coming to him once again for an explanation. Plus he was being a bit of a hypocrite right now. He had only known Dimitri and Bastion for just as long so he wasn't someone to talk.

 _You can lie through an entire interview Jaden but you can't lie to your family's face can you?_

Dam it why did his sisters words have to come back out now of all times.

"I'll get Dimitri and Bastion," sighed Jaden.

XXX

The rooftops was a strange place for the group of seven but it did seem to provide a good view. The cool night sky created a calm atmosphere and the fence surrounding the rooftops meant that they could lean back and listen. The party down stairs had too many people for this explanation. Bastion couldn't trust anyone else to spill what they had done.

Then again Jaden had accomplished quite a feat in a small amount of time. And he also wanted to hear the whole story. Compared to the girls, expect possibly Kyrie, Bastion had the most thorough idea of what Jaden created for them.

Speaking of the girls, they were sitting next to each other as Jaden paced back and forth, probably trying to find a good way to structure this. Dimitri just goofingly nodded as he slide a little beside Mindy's side. The girl didn't seem to mind so Bastion just let the whole matter die.

"What do you know about the decks those three used? Before the duels today I mean," asked Jaden starting off the conversation.

"I know that Taiyou uses a dragon deck and that Raizou uses some sort of weird fortress deck. Chazz reinvents himself too much for me to get a good vibe on him," stated Alexis.

Jaden nodded before continuing on, "Well I was able to find a deck list of the official decks that those three used thanks to Kyrie."

"Wait," raised Jasmine, "I remember that. Three weeks ago Kyrie and Alexis duelled each other over some sort of contact details. Alexis then said she would have to do another thing for Kyrie before she left."

"That's right," acknowledged Alexis, "And that was ... the official deck list of all the Obelisks students. It came under my name but that means that ..."

"Thanks to you Kyrie," elaborated Jaden continuing Alexi's train of thought, "We were able to get a photo-copy of the deck lists of the Obelisk students we were facing. Granted however there were two problems with that whole situation. The deck lists which Kyrie provided was a very incomplete version of what we needed. They weren't what we were exactly looking for against those three."

"I noticed," conceded Kyrie, "The deck list which I gave you only showed you two things; a list of cards Chazz and his fellows bought through their Obelisks tokens and what was their main deck."

"However," continued Jaden ,"We had a sneaking suspicion that the decks Chazz and his peers would use were completely different if not radically structured. Frontline Base and Des Counterblows are examples of cards that Chazz shouldn't have."

It was now Dimitri's turn to speak up.

"We hypothesized that Crowler would make such a move to stack the deck in our favour as much as possible," touched upon Dimitri, "That's why Jaden had to hack into the school mainframe to get a list of cards that were in Chazz, Raizou and Taiyou's possession."

"You can do that?" gaped Mindy looking at the boy beside her.

Jasmine however was far more critical than her friend.

"And how did you know that Crowler would try to pull something like on you guys. For all you might have known you basically hacked into the database of the school, illegally mind you, for your reckless paranoia," commented Jasmine, "I'm still surprised you expect us to not hand you in."

"Well you did promise me," reminded Kyrie, "And I trust you not to do this at least for my sake."

"Yeah," Alexis closed, "And whether we like it or not I'm taking this to my grave. What about you two?"

That didn't change the fact that Jaden had some blackmail material on Alexis thus her commitment to their silence.

Mindy chirped as she cozed up to Dimitri, "Sure."

The boy in question didn't seem to mind at all.

"I guess I might as well," drawled Jasmine.

"Anyways," explained Dimitri, "What clued us in onto Crowler's machinations was when he put a letter in Jaden's locker. I saw it first and in any other circumstances would have tried to sneak into the girls dorm jus to talk to Alexis."

That got several bewildered looks from the girls.

"You what?" questioned Alexis.

"But you were under house arrest," reminded Bastion, "So you told us about the letter. We still are under house arrest by the way."

"Yeah," rubbed Dimitri, "It was kind of embarrassing reading love letter out loud."

"As it should be," harked Mindy, "Those are meant to be a private thing between two people and two people only."

"Well that's what really tipped us off that Crowler would go to any means to expel us," continued Jaden, "The three of us decided to call Kyrie about the lover letter to know where Alexis was during my gym class."

"And that's why you wanted to get my phone number," clicked Alexis remembering Kyrie's duel, "It's to confirm your suspicions. From what I've been able to gather so far, neither of you were completely sure if I had sent the letter or not and whether I was one of those "obelisks" or not."

But that meant the deck Kyrie used that night was Jaden's.

"What do you mean those "Obelisks"?" emphasized Mindy turning to Dimitri.

Dimitri repeated the events of Jaden and Chazz first late night duel, "During our first day here Chazz challenged Jaden to an afterhours duel. Alexis warned us about security that night but we weren't sure if that was because she was trying to protect Chazz or to protect us."

"My confirmation and the files I provided through Kyrie to you three," admitted Alexis, "Meant that the three of you had a very valid motive to hack the school database."

"We didn't just hack the school data-base," clarified Jaden, "Bastion what else did you think I did?"

"We practiced a lot for the duel ahead of time. And I mean a lot. Jaden worked on creating a computer program to stimulate the behaviour of those three so that we could guess how they would react. We had a field of information to work with I will remind you," demonstrated Bastion by pulling out his Water Dragon, "This card was the one I would have preferred to have used however Jaden reminded me that on the off chance that Taiyou did decide to play that beast of a monster I would be defeated quite easily."

The constant drills the three of them went through still kind of haunted Bastion. Jaden could be really obsessive and determined when he had a clear goal. Then again Jaden had structured some free time so that was pretty decent of him so Bastion wasn't too angry.

"My role in this," summarized Bastion ,"Was to build a deck of monsters for each of us against who we were facing. Jaden's role making a computer program to stimulate the behaviour of each of our opponents. Jaden didn't want to hack into the main-frame at all because the longer his computer stayed connected to the school's internal cyber security the easier it would be for them to trace it back to us; thus Kyrie's role."

"I also created another program to examine what cards the three of them had played since they began duelling," added Jaden.

"Wait," understood Mindy, "I know Chazz was one of the highest in duel prep school, if not the highest. So when you mean you basically examined and dissected their playing styles that means since ..."

"The day they stepped started their first duel in Duel Prep," gloated Jaden, "The fact remains that thanks to the large digital footprint those three have had since they started their duelling careers, combined with the lack of different decks they've used meant that they lost the moment they stepped foot into the duel arena."

"That's pretty impressive," praised Alexis, "Congratulations you guys. You've managed to not find a way to know every action Crowler would take but you've also somehow managed to turn every single advantage they had into a disadvantage. But you said something about Des Counterblows and Dimitri's role in all this."

The last sentence was directed at Dimitri.

"That's much less complicated," reassured Dimitri, "First and foremost I had to get my deck up to par against Raizou. We already knew who each of us were facing. Chazz is nothing if egotistical. Even if he hadn't chosen Jaden as his opponent, Jaden would have decided so anyways. Raizou was a far harder nut to crack so to speak. His deck was the most dangerous considering the circumstances."

"That's why you didn't use Jaden's Elemental Heroes," noted Kyrie, "Because that would have been suicide against Raizou. And Taiyou had somehow managed to summon that behemoth of a monster on his first turn proving that your plan wasn't completely infallible."

"That's right," informed Dimitri, "But what I did have was a lot of Maha Vailos. Sure I didn't get a chance to use those cards but the fact remains that my deck was formulate to include any and all equip cards possible especially when Raizou would have played Dark Door on me."

"So the deck had to be low level equip monsters that would somehow get past Power Bind while strong enough to crush Raizou to pieces," widened Mindy getting the gist of the matter, "And here I thought you just liked the deck."

Dimitri winked at Mindy, "I do like my new deck. It's actually pretty good and I've beaten Jaden quite a few times."

"Really?" mocked Jaden, "I wouldn't say that. I mean I was going easy on you when ..."

Bastion interrupted Jaden bluntly stating, "You summoned Dark Horus and Gaia the Dragon Champion and still lost against Dimitri."

"That's was only once," complained Jaden.

Dmitri bragged, "One time is enough isn't it Jaden."

"I still beat you in over 200 matches," returned Jaden.

Dimitri slumped at that comment and began moping to himself. Mindy just patted him on the back at that comment.

"So where did you get all those equip cards Dimitri used?" questioned Jasmine.

"Barter Card," said Bastion, Kyrie and Jaden simultaneously.

That got a giggle out of Alexis and a smile from Jaden. Jasmine soon found herself laughing at the action which soon spread throughout the rooftops. Soon the whole group was laughing at the night they were having. It would cement the friendship of the seven and be remembered throughout their lives.

For Jaden the stars really did twinkle and dance tonight.

"Well that's the story," he finished, "Now let's go back to the party."

"That too," grinned Dimitri pulling Mindy behind him.

"I win the pool," affirmed Kyrie to Alexis. The girl in question just sighed and gave her something.


	8. Duel 8 : Interlude

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 8: Interlude**

XXX

The morning after the party wasn't so bad for the Ras, especially because Jaden had taken precautions to prevent any alcohol or drugs from getting involved. Several of his dorm-mates and the invitees were groggy and worn-out from the night before but otherwise it was just a normal day in the dorm.

"How you eat so much?" questioned Ishiki as he looked at Jaden, "Usually I only eat half as much as you do after detention with Harrington."

Said boy was helping himself to his second bowl of miso soup. Beside him lay a cup of black coffee, which he had just gotten refilled, bread crumbs from the four slices he had eaten and a bowl of egg added ramen noodles and Natto. Altogether Jaden was getting every single penny out of Duel Academy. At least food wise.

"Years of exercise and duelling," winked back Jaden.

Ishiki sniffed at that comment, "Well if there's any justice in this world you'll get fat the moment you hit thirty."

"Don't be like that Ishiki," grunted Brier who was also shovelling down a third slice of toast and another bowl of Natto, "That party was quite satisfying to be a part of. Beauregard loved it as well."

The giant seemed to have a wonderful singing voice. Jaden guessed it was one of the many hidden talents all Ras seemed to possess.

"Speaking of that giant," added Ishiki as he watched the two boys in front of him eat, "Where is he by the way?"

"I can answer that for you," answered Satyr from behind Ishiki. The three boys leapt up in fright.

"Professor!" shouted the three boys.

Jaden asked, "When did you get here?"

"Just now. I've been looking for you Ishiki," the professor elaborated as he turned to the brown haired Ra.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," remembered Ishiki rubbing his head, "It's my turn to cook lunch today."

"Yes. Yes it is. Now hurry up or you won't be able to flavour the meat properly," shooed Satyr.

"Yes. I've got to go guys," grunted Ishiki as he got up from his seat, "Bye!"

Brier waved to the disappearing boy, "Bye!"

"Make the meat extra spicy today!" shouted back Jaden, "And add some fried shrimp!"

"Up yours Jaden!" retorted Ishiki from afar.

"I do have to say this dorm looks quite clean for a group of teenagers who had just had a party," noticed Satyr.

In fact the floors had been vacuumed a few days early, there was barely any garbage as the Ras had disposed of everything this morning and the tables seemed to have a extra shine to them.

Jaden stated, "We know how to clean up after ourselves Professor Satyr."

The last two words were meant to be a mock but Satyr didn't really seem to mind. He was too busy looking at the pristine room.

"I would give you detention but the fact remains that the dorm has never seemed so clean outside of the openings on the first day," admired Satyr before looking at Jaden, "Although I'm surprised I can't find Dimitri."

"Oh he's on the roof duelling some Obelisk girl named Cindy," informed Brier.

"Mindy," corrected Jaden before turning back to Satyr, "Now about Beauregard? You said you knew where he was?"

"Oh he's having a match with Bastion," illuminated Satyr taking a sip from his cup of coffee, "Those two have been at it for over an hour I believe."

That changed Jaden's attitude from slightly edgy and hostile to completely beaming. He loved watching a duel between his friends.

"Sweet," grinned Jaden, "Why didn't you tell me Brier? I should be cheering Bastion on."

A silence encased the three as Satyr looked a little embarrassed at Jaden's comment. Brier decided to elaborate.

"Jaden," drawled Brier, "Beauregard plays chess."

XXX

In the computer lab Zane was flipping through pages about the official report. While several of his colleagues had decided to go on with their lives after the punishment duel between those six Zane knew he couldn't let it rest. This was something very valid and he knew that sooner or later Jaden or Chazz would try to challenge him. Chazz's information was easy to find. There wasn't really much too it.

Youngest sibling of the Princeton group, gifted duellist, extremely cunning when he had to be, behaviour questionable. Everything was there. There was quite a lot of complaints about Chazz's malpractice and illegal ante duelling but that was common knowledge in the Obelisk dorms.

No. What Zane was after was Jaden. Who was this boy? Why did he seem so familiar? What were his connections to Joey Wheeler? Why why why? Those were the questions that crept through Zane's mind as he taped a few more keywords highlighting what was in the report.

His eyes eye widened at the name his saw.

Improbable but not impossible. He had heard rumours of the like and he knew the billionaire was married but he never expected this. Zane highlighted Jaden's name and put it into the search engine. As the results started appearing Zane knew he had gotten the answer he was looking for.

XXX

A LIMB clinic bolstered in and out with people; patients, doctors and other important staff that helped run it. LIMB clinics were dotted all across the planet with the 100th clinic about to be opened in a few weeks. Many of the head doctors and surgeons were anticipating it's opening as many of the staff so it as a positive step in the right direction. For one the clinic wasn't a normal clinic although it did have the staff that would be expected to accompany one and the duties expected from such.

It was a clinic for people who wished to fit new sections of their body together with mechanical augmentations and that was what made the difference. Serenity Kaiba appreciated the fact that this was the clinic her children always went to and while there weren't many issues with mechanical augmentations in the country as a whole she always thought the welcoming atmosphere would be a wonderful place to have checkups for her children. Altogether she was content working at the clinic however today she was arguing with her daughter for a reason other than a checkup.

"Please mom?" begged the teenage girl to the older dark haired redhead.

Said redhead could only smile at the adorable way her daughter pouted at her. She had been together with Seto for twenty years and throughout that time it had been both a joy and a hassle to raise their children.

Of course dealing with her youngest daughter right now was both.

 _Twenty years? I'm still surprised we've lasted this long. But that's one of the joys of life._

"We promised your brother we wouldn't embarrass him too much," declared Serenity looking slightly down. Soon her youngest would be taller than her.

Of course her son wouldn't mind if she randomly showed up but Serenity didn't want to appear overly smoothing. Actually that was completely wrong. her son would love it if the whole family just appeared to visit him at parent teacher interview but it was time for her boy to grow up. To become independent and while it was something that made her feel a little empty about doing it was without a shadow of a doubt necessary.

"Please?" pouted Rikona Kaiba, "Please? I miss him already."

"You spoke to him on the phone yesterday," smiled Serenity knowing that Rikona would soon begin her other tactics, "He'll call again if that's what you want."

"Why can't I call him then?" asked raven haired teen.

Rikona wasn't usually this immature but Serenity knew that it must seem like a lifetime for a fourteen year old. Serenity could also sympathize. All she wanted to do right this instance was head to Duel Academy and hug her boy. She wanted to comfort him and tell him everything was going to be okay.

Was she only mildly less clingy than what she admonished her daughter of being? Yes. But any mother would be worried about their child after what they had been through. Motherhood was like knowing your heart was walking out on the street and letting it do so.

Serenity could just reminiscence about it all day but she knew it would be futile. All the good and bad memories would just come flooding back and that wasn't something she wanted to deal with now. She wanted to forgive him for when he had gotten into that fight with the Princeton boys and his friends. She wanted to have been there cheering him on as he duelled. She wanted to hold his hand because she knew it was her fault for turning him into who he was today.

Her fault.

Her fault.

All her fault.

"Mom?" asked Rikona brining Serenity back to earth.

Serenity uncharacteristically snapped, "Your brother has his reasons for doing what he's doing. You know how much he doesn't want to burden us with his problems."

"I know," whispered Rikona almost understanding what she had been thinking, "He's awesome like that sometimes. Other times I just want to pull my hair out for those same reasons. He always tells us but never wants to us to get involved."

Five years ago everything had changed.

"Do you trust him?" asked Serenity more to herself than to her daughter.

Fortunately it wasn't peak hour at the clinic. Serenity noticed several nurses helping several people get used to their augmentations. Eighteen months; that's how long it took for most patients to get used to their new body parts.

"Yes," answered Rikona without hesitation.

It was wonderful how much Rikona worshipped her older brother. She had always been distant with her other older siblings, more so with her sister. Serenity frowned knowing that she shouldn't be thinking about why. Today was suppose to be a normal day. No reason to angst of images of molten steel and whether her son would live or not.

 **BURN**

"Then let him life Rikona. He deserves as much," finalized Serenity.

 _We all do._

XXX

In the Ra dorm basement two boys were playing chess on a yellow and white chessboard. There were several rows of seats on each sides and at four entrances and exits. There was even several stage lights and a microphone. Clearly this was a board that was meant to be used and while Duel Monsters did make up the main feature it was obvious that many of the students enjoyed playing chess just as fervently.

Today though the basement was empty except for the two boys in question.

"Rook to D7," commanded Bastion.

Beauregard pushed the large stone rook towards the appropriate location on the board. IT was a very convoluted chess board. The pieces were literally life-sized; pawns reached up to Bastion's waist, Rooks to his waist and the King and Queen were near shoulder height. They were also very heavy as well, no doubt because the outer shell frame holding the chess pieces together was made out of actually white marble.

 _"Honestly wouldn't it have been better to have just made them out of plastic or Styrofoam?,"_ Thought Bastion.

Beauregard just responded, "At least it's giving us a workout isn't it?"

"Wait I said that out loud didn't I?" raised Bastion breaking his concentration

Beauregard just shrugged, "Yes. But that's not what really matters. What matters is that I'm going to win this."

"How?" questioned Bastion looking at the chessboard.

So far he had two of his rooks left and one knight and one pawn. Beauregard on the other hand had only two bishops and what was his black queen. Altogether while it wasn't a perfect situation for Bastion he could easily say he had the upper hand.

"All I have to do is knock out that queen and this soon becomes a waiting game," informed Bastion.

"Not really," cleared up Beauregard, "See your king? I move my Queen to F3."

Following what he was told Bastion pushed the large black queen to Beauregard's stated location. That was how Bastion and Beauregard always played their matches. Each of them would give a direction and their opponent followed through with the movement. He honestly didn't see the point of doing it. The Queen would be able to checkmate his king but then all that would do would the end in its destruction.

"I win," cheered Beauregard.

"But how?" questioned Bastion once again looking at the pieces of the board, "Your queen is completely exposed. The moment I take it with my rook and then ..."

"I take your other rook with my bishop," gestured Beauregard toward the other rook, "If you move that rook I just corner you with my other bishop."

The black bishop suddenly looked more menacing than Bastion would have ever believed.

"Wait," stopped Bastion calculating the match down, "If you do that then I don't have another rook which can check-mate you with because then I'll ..."

At the very least his odds of winning had decreased tenfold.

"Have my chances slashed as I use my bishops to corner your knight while hassling back and forth," returned Beauregard.

Bastion's eyes widened, "Your right. I guess this match is all but over then isn't it Beauregard?"

"It is," nodded the giant.

Bastion sighed, "I can see some way I might be able to win but it's really improbable. Well done. I forfeit."

Any other day Bastion would have fought to the bitter end. But not today.

"Are you sure?" peered his opponent, "This isn't usually something you do Bastion."

"Yes well I don't usually get into melees and expulsion duels but that's a completely different matter," retorted back Bastion.

Beauregard just sighed, "Very well then. Just so you know Bastion if you want to talk I'm always here to help."

"I will keep that in mind Beauregard," thanked Bastion as he eyed the chessboard again, "But right now I could really just use the time to calculate how to beat you next time."

"Same time tomorrow?" asked Beauregard.

Bastion just nodded as he stared at the board. How did he fall for something so obvious. Perhaps he had been too worried about his life lately. Or another reason could be because he hadn't really been out in the sun lately. Duel Academy was a beautiful place to hike around. Being forced to stay inside due to house arrest wasn't mentally healthy considered Bastion.

"Yes?" asked Bastion noting that Beauregard hadn't left yet, "Is there anything else?"

"Bastion I'm pretty sure you know this already I just wanted to make sure if you don't," explained Beauregard. Seeing that he had Bastion's full attention he warned his fellow Ra, "Crowler is really out for blood."

"I see," noted Bastion, "Thank you Beauregard."

XXX

Jaden and Dimitri were only allowed to go the mail-room once a day since they were still under house arrest. Furthermore whenever they went the two of them would have to wear the stupid ankle bracelets. If the consequences weren't expulsion Jaden would have just reprogrammed the bracelets so the two of them could walk around and do whatever they wanted. All he needed was a backpack, some wiring and lot of sheet metal.

The mail room wasn't busy at the moment which made it extra peaceful. Chazz and Jaden were still avoiding each other inside and outside of classes. Taiyou and Raizou were doing the same for Bastion and Dimitri respectfully which made sense if they had received the same lecture they had gotten from Satyr from Crowler as well. Jaden didn't really believe the idea wholeheartingly but it would have made sense. In the mailroom though they had run into a very familiar face.

"Jasmine what are you doing here?" questioned Jaden as he weight his envelop. It fell down in a stack. Jaden didn't have to look into it to realize what was inside it; his punishment deck.

This was going to be really embarrassing when he had to duel his peers or the mouthy Obelisks again. Now everyone and their grandma wanted to duel him just to prove that they were better than Chazz, who had been the best in their year. Not only that but the deck he received would mean he'd have to really play his cards well to not get demolished. Then again dad probably gave it to him for the same reason; humbling.

"Well I'm here to pick up my stack of flyers," explained Jasmine.

Dimitri simply asked, "And what do you need flyers for anyways Jasmine?"

"Well I hand them out to nearby students and tell them to join the new and improved Light and Dark Art organization," she answered.

Dimitri just sighed, "And that is?"

"Well mostly we just pain with black to make a lot of painting to provide an interesting contrast to the white paper we use," she explained.

Jaden just nodded stiffly still looking at his cards, "Sounds interesting. I might join it later."

"Thanks," replied Jasmine, "By the way Dimitri, Mindy wants to duel you later."

"And why would I want to do that?" queried Dimitri, "We're still under house arrest. I duelled her this morning and shouldn't that be more than enough for her?"

Truthfully Dimitri wasn't ignorant to Mindy's growing feelings to him. It had all started at the party from last night and Mindy did seem to have a real interest in him. If he was honest with himself, Dimitri reciprocated those very same feelings. However it seemed that her previous loss against Dimitri this morning had only made her more determined to beat him. But there was one problem.

"And Well I'm somewhat busy this afternoon," he continued.

"Take a hint you idiot," growled Jasmine.

Seeing the frown on Dimitri's face Jaden admonished Jasmine, "You really think Dimitri hasn't? But seriously Dimitri what's stopping you from duelling Mindy again?"

"Like I said," repeated Dimitri mentally calculating his time-table, "I'm really busy this afternoon. I have study group with America and Brier to go to not to mention the fact that there are still classes that I have."

"Yes. But when are you free anyways?" noted Jasmine, "I mean if it comes down to it we can come to you again and you did say you were only somewhat busy. When are you free?"

Personally Dimitri was tip-toeing around this issue. He really like Mindy and hoped she'd become his first girlfriend but right now he didn't wish push his luck.

"Well I guess I can make time," shrugged Dimitri, "However I'm still waiting for my new cards to arrive."

"I thought your tokens were confiscated?" asked Jasmine looking at his ankle bracelet.

The cool air did nothing to hid stone on Dimitri's face

"Not all. I got some for extra credit," he shot back.

Sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere Jasmine took another approach.

 _Mindy just tell him you like him already._

"Just take care of her okay?" sighed Jasmine. While she did have her fair share of obsessions and interests she didn't like going through the heartbreak after each other; nor did she want her friend to go through it.

Dmitri raised, "Mindy? Why? We aren't even dating yet?"

"Just do it," growled Jasmine before leaving the mail room.

"Any idea why she acted like that? Besides the obvious that is," questioned Dimitri.

Jaden just shrugged, "I guess her friend really means that much to her. But whatever it is your doing I trust that it's the right thing."

XXX

Sheppard office had looked much cleaner than the last time. At the very least a lot of the clutter had disappeared. The plants had even been watered. Not that it mattered to Crowler. He had papers to grade and would prefer to leave the Chancellor's company as soon as possible. The man had been a sore to him.

"Well I'm glad that this whole thing is behind us," sighed Sheppard, "Now I can get back to doing what I was generally doing in any other year."

Ah yes Ms. Dorothy's kiss. Stupid perverts always seemed to have all the power.

"You mean prepare the inter-school duelling match?" snipped Crowler, "I'm so glad we were able to let those delinquents get away with so much and all for so little."

That cause the Chancellor to stiffen. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that.

"Careful Crowler," warned Sheppard, "The paperwork has already been signed. I don't want any more issues to pop up."

Hand lazing sliding over the silent alarm Crowler knew he had pushed too far. Sheppard must have really wished to put the whole thing behind him.

"I still think we should have them expelled," grumbled Crowler.

Sheppard smashed his fist into the table, "Grow up Crowler. So things have been unfair for those boys. I get that. Yes your students were injured. Yes Jaden and his friends got off lightly. Deal with it. That's life."

"And this has nothing to do with the Sacred Beasts does it?" observed Crowler, "Don't lie to me. You've had that worried look on your face since you told me about how the Beasts seem to be acting up. Care to explain that?"

"Yes and no," disagreed Sheppard, "I know you don't believe in the heart of the cards, darkness duels or the ike but I can just feel it in my bones. I've never felt the shadows feel so tested or violent. Ever."

Now this was interesting. What was Sheppard talking about here?

"But that's not why your being so lenient," noted Crowler, "There's another reason."

"And none that matters to you Crowler," admonished Sheppard, "Good day."

Taking it as a dismissal Crowler walked to the door.

"One more thing Crowler," reminded Sheppard making the professor stop in his tracks, "Let it go."

Crowler just silently walked out.

XXX

In the Obelisk dorms Chazz was talking with his brothers through a video phone call. The faint banging of new installation could be heard from two floors down but it wasn't overly distracting. The luxurious room was buffered well enough that Chazz could tolerate it. What was the problem was the video call.

"How did you lose Chazz?" asked Jagger, "How? Especially when you had the advantage in all scenarios."

"Does it matter," retorted Slade to his brother, "Because of Chazz we've had to take several steps back on our plan. Aster was correct on this matter. We should have intervened further if we wanted to actually Chazz to beat him."

 _Wait Aster? Aster Phoenix?_

"And risk blowing this whole affair to the public? You know Aster just did that to get the rise out of you," snapped Jagger, "We've tried to keep things under wraps for a reason. This comes out and you know we can wave our chances of global domination good bye."

"When am I getting my replacement eye?" interrupted Chazz bringing the call back to the subject in question, "That reject pierced it when he sliced me with his duel disk and I'm sick of having to look like a bald guy."

Slade and Jagger turned back to Chazz at that comment.

"The eye's not coming for another six weeks ... minimum," reported Slade, "You'll get another eye but it's costing us 1.5 million, especially because the technology is still in new. Furthermore they don't want to cause any lasting damage or problems for you later in life."

"You owe us for this," sided Jagger, "Had you been a normal person you'd be living without two eyes for the rest of your life."

Well unless you were willing to living with an mechanical one but that had a whole heap of other issues which came to it.

"Does it matter? I know you'd come through. But that's not why I called. I'm here for one reason and one reason only," growled Chazz before asking the important question, "Why did you let that punk get away with ruining my eye? Do you see my face? It's completely ruined. The doctors had to shave it completely bald because the way he cracked my skull."

"Yes," sighed Slade, "If it were any other person they'd be lucky to be in a jail cell. Jagger and I were planning of just killing the kid and his friends for what he did. This wasn't some sort of public embarrassment where we usually just give some hush money."

Like all the journalists, police officers and politicians. The Princeton brothers weren't overt fans of violent resolutions mostly because they were very messy. That didn't mean they weren't afraid to murder though.

"However," continued Jagger looking at Slade for a moment before continuing, "This is a Duel Academy matter and if nothing else then we'd keep ourselves out of it. Duel Academy has a special provision from the government on how it runs its own island strictly answering to its shareholders in these matters outside of critical incidents."

"That's bullshit and you know!," shouted back Chazz, "This isn't like when the paparazzi caught your dick in that maid Jagger."

The reminder of that affair caused Jagger to wince a little before his face morphed into something else entirely

"Alright you little shit," hissed Jagger, "You want the truth then? Well we'll tell you in a minute. But rest assured that your really in over your head. You need us as back up Chazz."

"Otherwise you're going to suffer more than you ever suffered before," warned Slade, "Not by us. We have better standards than hurting our own. But you need to know why we didn't press charges and let the six of you settle it out among each other."

"Then explain," ticked Chazz now calmer and worried about whatever was going on.

If Slade and Jagger had a really valid reason then Chazz as in for a very rough ride. He would have to completely recreated his deck when he faced Jaden and his friends again.

"What do you know about the Kaiba family?" asked Jagger dropping the bombshell.

Chazz shrugged, "Not much more than what you've provided me with. Seto Kaiba is married to Serenity Wheeler, sister of Joey Wheeler. Of the number of children those two have two are boys and two are girls. The oldest are set to inherit Kaiba corporation and all its interests. The younger two siblings are given smaller shares of Kaiba corp. should they wish to do so. I know that already."

"Chazz," stretched out Jagger, "What's the name of all of Seto Kaiba's children?"

"I don't know," grunted Chazz trying to remember what Slade and Jagger had once told him, "Kaiba isn't usually seen in public with his wife most likely for privacy reasons. It's an open secret that he only married her to increase the stock and value of his company. A 'charity' case if you will."

Some rich men did that because it then got people to sympathize with your 'family' man image. Normal people gushed that up and while Chazz had thought Seto Kaiba had more class than that he couldn't deny the results.

Kaiba corporations shares had doubled in value just a month after their relationship had become public. It had tripled to the value it had had six months earlier. All because he was dating some poor girl. Now if only Chazz could get Kyrie Wheeler to like him.

"Chazz," hissed Slade, "Try to remember. You were always the laziest out of all of three of us but I honestly expected more from you. Now what are the names of Kaiba's children? All of them. It's only four words."

"Fine," snorted Chazz as he scowled his face before the answer slowly dawned on him. He whispered the last word slowly, "No."

That couldn't be. But if it did then everything suddenly made sense.

"Yes," nodded Slade, "That should tell you everything."

"Everything," emphasized Jagger, "Lucky for you your loss against Jaden wasn't such public embarrassment for us. But remember this Chazz don't screw this up. I'm at the top of the financial world. I make one call and Pegasus and I have a chat the very next evening."

"And I'm the top of the political world. I ask the President to dine with me he does next week later," continued Slade, "Your only job is to be the best duellist in the world. Don't you dare let yourself lose again."

World domination; that was something his brothers had always tried to gain since they were children. Chazz knew that. It was why he was here. Duelling was a trillion dollar industry and the most well-known and absolute best duellists were always considered equal in peers to billionaires themselves. This whole place was a training ground for Chazz because if he wanted to become a member of the two hundred, let alone become the best out of all of them, he'd have to compete against the likes of Zane and his equals.

It still didn't make it easy for him.

"I won't," answered Chazz.

Slade just nodded, "Good. We'll arrange a re-match if you want sometime in the near future but don't lose sight of your goal Chazz."

Then the video call ended.

XXX

Kyrie Wheeler sat in her bedroom surrounded by her white and blue bed sheets. The floor was a fine light blue as requested and she even had her own bathroom. However right now she wasn't interested in the amenities or the beautiful view of the night sky.

"Hey mom," answered Kyrie picking up her personal phone, "I'm doing fine. How's ... well everyone?"

Muttered gabbling could be heard over the phone between Kyrie and her mother.

"Yes I'm okay," repeated Kyrie, "Nothing really been happening lately?"

"Oh really?" answered Mai from the other side of the phone.

Age had been somewhat kind to her although there were some silvers of gray hair dotting her head.

"Yes really. I miss home. Here everyone just seems to think of me as the daughter of Joey Wheeler and Mai Valentine," she admitted, "But you already know that don't you?"

"You'll get used to it. I know you always do," Mai reminded her daughter.

Kyrie sighed despite knowing her mother was right, "I know. Doesn't make it any easier does it."

"It never does," wistfully thought Mai remembering Kyrie coming home some days after a few kids started picking on her, "It never does."

"Well on the bright side at least I don't have to share a room with anyone anymore," cheered Kyrie.

Oh yes sharing a room with another sister had really got tempers to flare. Fights, screaming, lies and all the appropriate drama of who used what.

Mai just grumbled, "It was to keep you grounded and you know it."

"Did those parenting books come in handy then?" teased Kyrie despite already knowing the answer, "Or is this more advice from aunt Serenity?"

"Well to be honest it's a little of both," twirled Mai, "You know the saying 'money never lasts three generations'. I'm trying to break the cycle before it even begins."

"Sandals to sandals in three generations," quoted Kyrie, "I remember you lecturing me about it. The only time our talks were more awkward was when you had to talk about ..."

"Not over the phone," blushed her mother, "Besides you're a big girl Kyrie. I know you can make your own decisions."

 _Please use protection if you do._

"Do you think I can't?" frowned Kyrie suddenly remember the day she realized she wasn't normal, "Or do you want to make them for me?"

"I'm your mother Kyrie," reminded Mai, "I'm suppose to guide you over the right path."

"Like how I'm a test-tube baby?" repeated Kyrie, "I was never a normal kid in the first place but..."

That's what had gotten her pelted with rocks at first. Almost none of the girls at her first public school had wanted to associate with her for that very reason.

"Kyrie," edged Mai knowing where the conversation was leading, "Your completely normal. You are a hundred percent human. Don't let anyone of those fanatics or cultists or whatever their called nowadays tell you otherwise."

"I'm sorry mom," apologized Kyrie, "I shouldn't have said that."

Mai just reassured, "That's normal. You weren't suppose to be have been born the way you were Kyrie but there was very valid reasons why. It was never to hurt you. Could you love your mother if you knew she could have stopped you from going blind?"

Recessive genes easily passed down the line. Both her parents were carriers to various examples and that caused problems.

"I don't know," paused Kyrie, "I don't know if I could or any of my siblings could."

Mai reminisced about that day, "When you were born I knew that you were going to be the last of my children. Out of the six you have me the most trouble and the one I was most worried about losing."

Her voice was now getting softer the more she talked. Kyrie knew the story but she always stopped and listened when her mother told her. It always reminded her how lucky she was to have been born into such a wealthy family and also how easily she could have died that day.

 _The same way my cousin did._

"I remembered holding you in my arms after ten hours of labour. You were so small, so fragile and you didn't move."

"All is well," repeated the younger Wheeler remembering those words.

"I've rarely seen your father cry but what kind of man would he have been had he known you had died in his arms," drowned Mai, "But you didn't come to talk about an old woman's woes Kyrie. That's my job. Your suppose to count on me."

"One day you should be able to count me," shot back Kyrie before looking at the clock, "One day I guess. Mom I'm so sorry abut I have to go now."

"Okay. I understand," enveloped Mai, "I love you Kyrie."

"I love you too Mom," Kyrie ended before hanging up the phone.

For once the cold night sky didn't seem so cold at all.

XXX

A short boy approached the first adult she saw. The boy, actually a girl, had been walking on the same path for five minutes and had just wanted to know if she was going in the right direction. The trucks seemed to be going this way but the first person who had given her directions could have been wrong as well.

"Excuse me Ms. Fontaine," asked Blair, "Which way is the Obelisk boys dorms?"

Ms. Fontaine pointed to Blair's left, "Just keep following this path then take the left and the second intersection although I wouldn't recommend that you head over there now."

"Why not?" asked Blair, "I understand that boys aren't allowed in the girl's dorms without permission for some weird reason but why can't I head over to the Obelisk dorms?"

"There's been some new renovation and wiring occurring at the Obelisks Boys dorm," explained Ms. Fontaine, "For the past few days several of the students from the dorm have gone missing and the academy has began installing several new cameras and other security equipment to guard the dorm."

"So that explains why I keep seeing work crews driving along this road," gestured Blair to the tracks on the ground, "The academy acts quickly doesn't it?"

Only when those precious Obelisks are in trouble. Students had been disappearing for nearly a week and it was only when someone important had disappeared was the academy taking measures. Fontaine knew that girls dorm would be the next place fitted with the new instalments, followed by the Ras and then the Slifers. The absurdity of the whole situation made here angry. Life was life and she didn't want to have students dying due to the board of directors short sightedness.

"Yes. Yes it does," lied Fonda.

XXX

On the rooftops Dimitri and Mindy were preparing for another duel. For four consistent days the two of them had met up and duelled at least once with their various friends cheering them on now and then. Today it was Kyrie and America and it was clear who had the advantage.

Batteryman AA AP: 4200

"Now go Batteryman AA!" screamed Dimitri, "Destroy that Dark Magician and wipe out her remaining life-points!"

Mindy LP: 1100 - 0

"Wow," whispered Kyrie gaping at the result, "That was quick."

"Yeah. Generally speaking Dimitri's duels tend to go for longer than this. He's seemed to have come up with the beat-down strategy and has been finetuning it since he lost to Raizou." agreed America.

"I still can't believe you have Dark Magician in your deck," admitted Kyrie to her friend.

Mindy just shrugged, "Well it does help against a lot of my opponents."

The power of money indeed. Mindy had bragged about her Dark Magician the first time she had faced Dimitri only to watch it get crushed by Maha Valo which had utterly ended any chances of her winning against Dimitri that day.

"Yes," commented Dimitri, "But the fact remains that had I used my Ancient Gear Golem this would have ended much more quickly."

"How do you have that card anyways? I thought it was something only Crowler had?" queried Mindy.

"Oh I have my ways," notified Dimitri before looking at the card in question, "Although I wasn't expecting to put it to use so quickly."

He had also used that card on his third day to pound Mindy's life points against her Celtic Guardian.

"Ouch," moaned Mindy ,"And here I thought I was going to beat you with Cold Wave."

"Perhaps," encouraged Dimitri, "But it still wouldn't have been enough. Even if you had somehow destroyed my Batteryman I would have just summoned it back later. Then used it as a sacrifice with my other card."

Infernal Reckless Summon.

"Wait," understood Mindy, "But that would have - "

"Wiped your life-points out," finished Dimitri.

"Mindy certainly has a long way to go before she can beat Dimitri," thought Kyrie, "Let alone Jaden."

Mindy continued to mop at her fourth loss but cheered up when Dimitri hugged her. Well she really did seem to like the boy at the very least. Kyrie could have also sworn she had slipped something into his pocket but that must have been her imagination.

"Come one," beckoned America ,"We still have a study group to get to Dimitri."

"Right," acknowledged Dimitri, "See you two around."

Kyrie and Mindy just waved goodbye at the boys.

XXX

"Chumley I'm sorry to say that I can't give you anything more," explained Banner, "With all the mistakes and discrepancies in your written report what I'm giving you is incredibly generous of me. Especially considering the fact that you should know where you made your mistakes by now."

"But Professor Banner if you do that my grades will take a nosedive," begged Chumley.

Banner clicked a few times on his keyboard, "I'm sorry Chumley but what I'm giving you is all I can give. I know your grades aren't the greatest and I understand that you may have problems. However I can't give you anything more especially because this is the second time you've taken the very same report."

"Please Professor," cried Chumley, "Can't you give me anything for extra credit."

Banner just swirled his chair to face Chumley letting the video call contineu, "I'm sorry Chumley but I can't. I do believe that you have the potential to be great duellist Chumley but I am contract bound to do this."

Then the person he had just called over the computer appeared over the screen. He was a very tall and muscular man with a goatee. Furthermore while his skin was far darker than Chumley's there was no denying the resemblance.

"Hello Chumley," opened out Mr. Huffington, "Your teacher has informed me about your failing grades. Time to come home you fat fuck."

XXX

In a dark room the two women argued back and forth with one another.

"That plan of yours jeopardizes our entire agenda," hissed Camilla to Lillith.

Lillith shot back, "And your plan is relatively bloodless and incredibly unrealistic to pull off. So what do you plan to do? Duel every single owner of the spirit keys into submission."

Silence.

"I take your silence as a yes. That's really fucking stupid," taunted Lillith.

Camilla growled back at Lillith, "Then what's your idea Ms. Biker chick. Also I'd ask you to dress up but if the Black Skulls let you walk around in that bikini of yours then I guess that just makes you the whore you are."

Camilla lazily dodged the knife thrown at her face was. However both women knew that had Lillith been serious there would have been there would have been some blood spilt at the very least.

"Your plan make our existence public knowledge," repeated Camilla, "And while you may enjoy public slaughter and would like to leave the students alone."

"Be that as it may the Black Skulls are grateful for you assistance," encased Lillith brushing off Camilla's thoughts, "However that's still fucking stupid. I understand that the Spirit Keys are suppose to be taken through a duel however what's stopping you from throwing a horrible deck at your opponent and forcing them to use it?"

"Energy," pierced Camilla, "You need to use highly powerful cards in order to generate enough energy from each duel. Collectively the energy generated from the duels should be enough to resurrect the Sacred Beasts for our plan."

"I see. I guess that was an acceptable answer," conceded Lillith before asking further questions, "However there's nothing stopping you from just shooting the duellists in the foot and making them slowly bleed to death. Why not just do that while playing against them? It's still counts as a duel and the cards used still remain powerful."

"Don't questioned our methods," defended Camilla, "All we need from your cabal is manpower. That's all your hear for. Remember that because the Black Skulls need us because it's through us you gain power."

We don't need you were the words that went unsaid between the two women. Lillith however had plans for the opposite. Her scouts were sourcing the island providing her with all the information she needed against their future opponents. Camilla didn't know that nor did she know that the powers she had shoved inside Titan's body.

Honestly Lillith had to thank the Shadow Riders right before she massacred the lot of them. It was thanks to them did they get a boost to their already dangerous arsenal.


	9. Duel 9

**Dragon's Chick**

 **Duel 9**

XXX

In the Ra Yellow dorm, Jaden shifted and turned in his sleep. It had been three weeks since the last nightmare but that didn't make the one he was feeling any less traumatizing.

The various events of the day played by him in Jaden's mind; Kyrie's betrayal, Hiromi's hostage taking, metal tools piercing his flesh. At the present Jaden looked at the scene in front of him with nothing but regret and self loathing. He shouldn't have done that. He should have acted more rationally.

His ten-year old self stared at the down form of a woman, holding up a gun before yelling at another man.

 _"Now tell me where she is or the last thing you will see will be your mother's bullet filled face!"_

A gunshot rang through the air.

Mist enveloped him sending him to another time of that day.

The fires of the factory were just getting to work. He could feel the heat radiating from the tools around him and the river of molten steel behind both him and his opponent. A small blindfolded girl dangled up in the air by her wrists.

"Please?"

Mist enveloped Jaden again, washing away the other memory and inserted him at the same situation. Only difference this time was the faint ringing of a gunshot and the shackles Jaden and his opponents wore.

"She's just a kid. Stop it! Let her go!"

The mist returned whisking him away. It was becoming more apparent that while the memory was bad, it was just that to Jaden. A memory. But that didn't mean he wasn't haunted by what he saw.

What he should never have been given or used.

The duel spirits continued laughing, taunting him as the shackles pulled him closer to the stream.

"The loser of this match will be nothing but ashes in the wind"

The mist evaporated and appeared again engulfing Jaden. He knew what was coming. Even so he didn't turn way. The scene front of him showed the charred figure of his former arm.

"AAAHHHHH!"

"As you can see you don't have to lose all your life points to lose this match am I right?"

That voice. Thpax; was the code that was once used for his opponent. He was dead now but his memory and legacy still lived on.

The older Jaden could only smile a little at the way he younger self continued on, despite the pain. Bloody, bruised and an hair away from dying yet he still strode on.

"I still have the cards in my hand!"

The mist returned taking Jaden way from the outcome of the match and placed him right at the foot of Flame Wingman's blast.

Wingman screamed, "Burn! Burn like I have!"

And Jaden once again fell to the agony of being burnt by the cards he had once called his own.

Waking up Jaden was greeted by Bastion's soft breathing. These episodes were just getting worse.

Knowing he had to do this Jaden sighed, "I need help."

XXX

"So what do you have for lunch Dimitri?" asked Mindy as she walked alongside Jazmine.

Bastion, Alexis and Dimitri formed a odd line of people on each end. Satyr's classes were always ... odd to say the least.

Her boyfriend just shrugged, "I really don't know. Hopefully today will curry with some rice and maybe some chocolate cake at that."

"Can I have it then?" asked Mindy, "You know how much I love it right?"

"Can't you just get it at Obelisk dorm. I know that the food's better there," commented Bastion.

Jazmine smirked, "Yes but Mindy here has a horrible habit of stuffing her face whenever she can get her hands on chocolate."

"I wouldn't be so rough if about it I could just get it every day," sighed Mindy, "Plus I was sick a few days ago so I all ate was some soup and really bitter bread."

"You're lucky Professor Banner was nice enough to make you some," acknowledged Jazmine, "And that we were nice enough to actually get you your homework."

"Thanks for that by the way," smiled Mindy, "Now about that chocolate."

"You're going to get fat if you keep pestering your boyfriend about chocolate," scolded Jazmine.

"It's only a little extra," swore Mindy.

Jazmine turned Dimitri, "This is your fault."

"Bastion?" queried Alexis.

Bastion blushed a little before stammering, "Yes?"

"Have you seen Jaden by any chance?" asked Alexis ignoring Bastion's diminishing blush and the duel disks being pulled out by Mindy and Jazmine.

"Can't say I have. All I know is that Jaden's gone to duel someone at the rooftops," answered Bastion ignoring Dimitri's valiant efforts to get between the two girls, "And I haven't seen Kyrie either."

"That would make sense," folded Alexis, "I saw Kyrie pull out her personal deck this morning."

"Her personal deck?" asked Bastion ,"What's that?"

"I can't help but overhear the five of you talking about Kyrie's personal deck," interrupted Chazz.

Dimitri and Bastion scrawled at the boy in annoyance while the girls had a more neutral expression on their faces. However if one looked closely all three of them had a hard look in their eyes. They were just more used to dealing with Chazz's attitude than either Bastion or Dimitri were.

"Buzz off Chazz," waved Dimitri, "Go annoy someone else."

"I would but then I heard you talk about Kyrie's personal deck. It's basically the one deck she always pulled out whenever she got really serious or wanted to make an impression. If any of you dweebs had paid attention you would have seen her use it at the entrance exam," Chazz explained.

Dimitri shrugged, "I was just too busy doing my own to care how other people did."

Bastion however agreed with Chazz, "Unfortunately I have to agree with Chazz on this one. You really should pay more attention to your competition. Especially when they may pull off something like a perfect score. I've been keeping an eye out for whoever student 534458 is. Apparently he got a perfect score on the written portion of the test although I haven't been able to find out who he is."

"Or she" added Alexis, "Whoever it is it's not me though."

"Anyways that deck was something really precious to Kyrie because it's basically a fusion of her mother and father's deck and I have to say it's actually pretty solid," continued Chazz.

Dimitri snorted, "And you know this how?"

Chazz narrowed his eyes, "Because we went to Duel Prep together. It was something she loved bringing and showing her friends and I got a whiff of those cards when I duelled her. But seeing as how she's a Wheeler that's expected."

"You lost?" gasped Jazmine, "And you actually admit it?"

"Chazz are you feeling okay?" frowned Alexis.

"Oh let's just say if you five are asking why Kyrie and Jaden are duelling that means you're not as friendly with them as you hope you are," sniggered Chazz, "And it's giving me the jollies."

"And you know?" glared Alexis, "What aren't you telling us Chazz?"

"Oh you'll see soon enough," smirked Chazz before walking away, "Let's just say that I don't plan on keeping this secret as long as I can."

"Translation: As long as it take for me to get even with Jaden," muttered Mindy before seeing the looks on everyone's face, "What you know it's true."

"That's enough time you've spent with my Obelisks," growled Crowler, "Get to your next class you Ras before I give the two of you a week's worth of detention."

"But we were just talking?' complained Dimitri, "And we still have half an hour before our next class."

"Then I suggest you get to it right now," commented Crowler before snapping, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Bastion and Dimitri mumbled a little before shuffling away. Crowler wasn't a dick to most Ras for a variety of reasons but today he seemed to be in a particularly bad mood.

"Speaking of Kyrie Wheeler," Crowler noted before turning to the girls, "Where is she by the way?"

"How long have you been listening to our conversation Professor?" hissed Alexis. If he did why didn't he do anything to stop Chazz?

Crowler growled, "Enough. And best female student or not if you don't straighten that attitude Ms. Rhodes I'm going to give you detention."

"Why do you ask?" gently placed Jazmine, "She's on the rooftops duelling Jaden for some reason."

"I see," hauffed Crowler, "In that case I will have to chastize her for getting swayed by such rift rapt. There's a Duellist Winter Ball coming up soon and I was interested in giving her one of the invitations as it is my right as Dorm Leader."

"Your still going to give it to her right?" asked Alexis as she ignored the swooning girls behind her. Jazmine and Mindy always seemed to hope some guy would take them to the Winter ball.

"Of course," shrugged Crowler, "But only after I give her a lecture on who she should bring for her date. I can't have her date be Jaden of all people."

XXX

Two duellists stood at opposite ends of the roofs ready to challenge each other. It would either be the beginning or end of a new win streak for either of them. But now they had something more to accomplish today.

Kyrie Wheeler went ahead, "I play Dwarf-star Dragon in attack mode and place one card face-down."

Dwarf-Star Dragon AP: 1700

"Since this is the end of my turn since Dwarf-Star Dragon was summoned," smirked Kyrie, "I get take one level seven dragon monster from my deck and place it in my hand."

"I know where this is going," commented Jaden, "We both have a win-loss ratio of one to one when facing each other Kyrie but I know you're sick of this dead lock just as much as I am."

"But how far are you willing to go?" asked Kyrie, "I know you don't want to talk about it Jaden but the truth will come out eventually."

"That's a lie and you know," shot back Jaden before pulling out one card, "My turn."

"I play Voltic Kong in attack mode and have it attack your Dwarf-Star Dragon."

The electric ape punched a fist through the dragon's chest cavity. It screeched in agony before dissipating to the wind.

Kyrie LP: 4000 - 3900

"And since you've taken battle damage from my attack," noted Jaden, "I can send one card from the top of your deck to the graveyard for every light monster on the field."

Kyrie could only gasp in shock at the card which turned out to be Polymerization.

"No!" she screamed.

"Wow," noticed Jaden, "I got really luck with that. You could have summoned that Black Skull monster and basically won the game if you'd drawn that card."

"I'm still going to beat you," hissed Kyrie, "I play my spell card Fissure. This card allows me to destroy the monster with the lowest attack points on my opponents side of the field."

"Well it was nice knowing Voltic Kong," sighed Jaden as hands grabbed the electric beast and pulled it to ground.

"Next I play Red-Eyes Wyvern in attack mode," called out Kyrie.

Red- Eyes Wyvern AP: 1800

"Now attack him directly my Wyvern," commanded Kyrie.

Jaden LP: 4000 - 2200

"Do you really think those cards are yours Kyrie?" replied Jaden, "Their mindless beasts and monsters Kyrie clawing for your soul."

"Are trying to throw me off my game Jaden," hissed Kyrie, "Or do you really believe that I didn't earn these cards?"

"I think we both know the answer to that," whispered Jaden.

"These are my cards! I earned them Jaden," screeched Kyrie, "Don't forget that!"

"No," sighed Jaden, "I think I will."

Then he played another card, "Now I summon Flamvell Dog in attack mode!"

Flamvell Dog AP: 1900

"Then I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Voltic Kong. Now attack her Wyvern Flamvell Dog," commanded Jaden.

The dog growled before jumping onto Kyrie's dragon and bit its wing off. The Black Wyvern roared and hissed before fading away.

Kyrie LP: 3900 - 3800

"And now Voltic Kong," returned Jaden, "Attack Kyrie directly."

Kyrie LP: 3800 - 2000

Voltic Kong's effect sends Icarus Attack to the graveyard. Jaden smirked. That was the great effect of Voltic Kong. It was a great way to mill any deck.

Kyrie played, "I activate Brain Control to take control of your Flamvell Dog by sacrificing 800 of my life-points."

Kyrie LP: 2000 - 1200

"Then I play Harpie Lady 1 in attack mode and when she's summoned all wind-type monsters gain 300 attack points."

Harpie Lady: 1300 - 1600

Jaden was really starting to wonder why Kyrie had such cards. Remembered how broken she was and sighed.

"Now Flamvell Dog attack Jaden's Voltic Kong!" commanded Kyrie.

Jaden LP: 2200- 2100

"And now do the exact same thing to him once again Harpie Lady!"

Jaden LP: 2100 - 500

Jaden continued to calmly stare at Kyrie.

"Why arena' you worried?" she questioned looking at Jaden's near empty field. So far Jaden had played very conservatively and without any of his signature trap or spell cards.

However there was a valid reason for it. Jaden knew that playing against Kyrie was a game where you always kept your back row clear. This made him disadvantaged in a way but still a formidable opponent. Jaden's wins against her were in spite of these glaring weaknesses. Familiarity allowed a pattern to emerge.

That didn't mean that Kyrie didn't know how Jaden operated either which was why Power Bind was so catastrophic for Jaden's deck.

"Flamvell Dog returns to my side of the field," reminded Jaden as the yapping fire mutt returned to his side.

"I know what you're probably going to be planning and I can't have you play like that Kyrie. It's time to end this," he frowned, "I tribute by Flamvell Dog to summon Twin=headed Beast!"

Twin Headed Beast AP: 1700

"Now destroy that Harpie Lady," indicated Jaden pointing to the monster on Kyrie's side of the field.

Kyrie bit her lip at the monster Jaden had summoned. He'd been using it a lot, almost as if it was a substitution for his Flame Wingman to end duels.

Kyrie LP: 1200 - 1100

"And you know Twinheaded beast's special ability right?" Jaden reminded her, "It can attack twice during my battlephase."

The centaur reared its second head at Kyrie conjuring up another fireball and threw it at her face. The blast pushed her back a little, making Kyrie stumble.

Kyrie LP: 1100 - 0

Jaden walked up to Kyrie and held out a hand, "Not really how our duels usually go don't they?"

"We all know how our duels usually end," miffed Kyrie nevertheless talking Jaden's hand to help herself up, "Usually they end with me beating you down with just Harpie's Feather Duster, right before I summon my fusion monsters."

"While they are a great sight to see I don't like being on the other end of their attacks.," sighed Jaden before changing the topic, " How have you been finding Duel Academy anyways?"

"In general or what I expect?" asked Kyrie looking at the two toned haired boy before mumbling, "And since when did you get as tall as me?"

"Growth spurt?" he joked before frowning, "But seriously you know I'm always here to talk if you have any problems."

"I know," admitted Kyrie, "It feels better knowing that your here with me."

"Also please don't tell anyone that I used my regular deck," begged Jaden.

"Oh please," moaned Kyrie, "I'd never rat you out for something like this. Just don't use it in front of anyone else if you don't want your dad to find out."

"Thanks Kyrie," grinned Jaden, "But this duel isn't the only reason I wanted to meet you alone today.."

And so he told her about his nightmare. Kyrie had as much the right to know as his family did. Especially as he started to see the growing signs of guilt on her face.

XXX

"So did you make love in the pale moonlight?" teased Dimitri once Jaden sat next to him class.

"Oh it's nothing like that," shrugged Jaden, "It's the afternoon by the way so it's sunlight."

"Ah so that's what you did?" continued Dimitri.

Jaden looked around a little making sure they were completely alone. So far the few people in the room seemed to not be paying attention which was good.

"Well I'm not the one who sneaks into the Obelisk Girls dorm every night," retorted Jaden ,"Have you upgraded yourself from stuffed teddy bear to bed warmer yet?"

Jaden could only laugh at Dimitri's red expression.

"Up yours Jaden," punched Dimitri.

"Will the two of you shut up?" shouted Bastion, "I'm trying to work on my Fire deck right now!"

XXX

Romantic strolls along the beach were not something Missy usually took but it did help clear her mind after a very hard day. Today was no different. After finishing that test and practice duel, the evening breeze felt like a lovingly welcome change. The stars glistened and the waves caressed the sandy beach leaving wet soil in its place. This was usually the time when Missy would take off her shoes and start pattering the water with her feet.

That is if she didn't see the body of a blue-haired boy washed up on shore. Hopping over bits of wood, Missy ran towards the body getting ready to apply CPR if she needed to. Gently she pulled him towards her side. The boy was much smaller than her and she recognized his face immediately.

Syrus Truesdale; younger brother of her love Zane Truesdale. But why was he here? Not that it mattered now as shadows flickered over the woods.

Heave.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Heave.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Heave.

Wait ... were those bite marks?

Suddenly Syrus opened his eyes and gasped, "Titan."


End file.
